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Once upon a time there was a prince. He was well liked in his kingdom and brought prosperity and happiness to his people. He would never shy away from a difficult task and would not rest until justice had been served. Therefore, Hajime was on yet another mission that would keep his father from marrying him off to some princess he’d saved lately. But his usual tradition of enjoying the solitude was prevented by the guy walking beside him. He’d picked him up at his last stop and since the guy had seemed unprepared for travel, Hajime had offered to get him through these wicked woods.
He was now cursing having made that decision.
“And then I told her that she’d been wrong all along and snatched the Marslow out of her hand!” As Hajime turned to the guy, he found him excitedly telling his story, brows knitted and hands everywhere. Hajime had barely been paying attention in the last hour but he still nodded, as if in agreement. He wasn’t even sure what a Marslow was.
“Well, I’m sure that must have been horrible for her…,” he noted, after the guy beside him still didn’t continue talking and pulled the straps of his backpack tighter. Small talk was really not his thing.
“Dude! She totally deserved it?!” The guy exclaimed and grabbed his arm, it almost seemed like he was pouting now.
“I’m sure she did,” Hajime shrugged him off and inspected the other again: “What did you say your name was?”
The guy was taller than him which irked Hajime, and while he enjoyed the obvious distaste on the other’s face, he held back more remarks. He had manners. Unlike the guy who apparently thought that crossing a hexed forest in high-heeled boots was a good idea. Nevertheless, Hajime had been debating whether to make up a story about a man-eating monster that loved feasting on loud people just to shut him up. But the stories actually being told about the forest and its desolate bewitched spots were enough to send shivers down his own spine. He didn’t need to scare a guy that was probably just talking this much because of nerves in the first place.
“I am Oikawa Tooru, you roughtard!” The guy exclaimed in a puff. Hajime’s attention was suddenly caught by the guy’s fluffy hair, that seemed to have a life of its own. Did it just puff up as well? He shook his head as if to wake up from a dream and was met by a curious stare. Somehow, looking into big brown eyes that stared back made Hajime unable to look away, or respond for that matter. Oikawa’s eyes sent a final spark through him that made the hairs on his arm stand up. Then he spoke again.
“Oikawa Tooru,” Oikawa repeated, slowly spelling out every syllable. “Remember it!”
Hajime felt his guts tighten as he was still held prisoner by those dark eyes and was sure he would not forget that name ever again. Unable to continue the conversation or even move at all it felt like an eternity to Hajime before the other finally smiled.
“And your are Prince Iwaizumi,” Oikawa continued. At the mention of Iwaizumi's name it was like a spell had been lifted and he started breathing again. “Of the Marania Kingdom. You are quite well known, even around here…” Now he was back to his cheerful self. Oikawa was picking up the pace as he rambled on about the best stories of the Kingdom of Marania and Hajime himself.
It was not uncommon at all for Hajime to be recognized. That was actually the reason why he got so many missions far away from home. But he wasn’t arrogant enough to gloat, so he settled, walking a few steps behind Oikawa who was definitely walking faster than the average first-time traveler. He caught himself watching Oikawa’s hair echo the bounce in the others step. He’d never seen hair like this.
As night started to fall, Oikawa suddenly turned to Hajime. He grabbed both his arms and grinned playfully : “Surely you are going to protect a poor, helpless merchant like me? Right, my prince?” Oikawa winked and let go as fast as he had grabbed onto Hajime, but his eyes stayed locked on the young heir.
Hajime was holding back a groan, more because of the sudden rush of adrenaline, but he didn’t mind the guy as much as he had thought. “Sure. If you can keep up, nothing will happen to you.” He said as he quickly overtook Oikawa and walked on.
He couldn’t help but grin when he heard Oikawa’s grumbling behind him, mentioning something of a stingy prince and his horrible attitude. Though, soon enough, they were walking beside each other, steps matching and Hajime started to wonder if their breathing was matching up, too. It was almost as quiet as when he was travelling by himself.
As the night progressed, Oikawa had been getting more and more quiet and Hajime had not commented on it. Instead, he did end up telling one or two stories of his own. Oikawa had laughed at his stories each time and Hajime noted that it was a pleasant sound. When he realized that the other’s footsteps were getting out of sync with his own, he conveniently slowed down as well and as luck would have it, it didn’t take too long to find a place to rest for the night.
Soon, Hajime was getting a fire going, but he could basically feel Oikawa fidgeting behind him.
“All forests are busy at night,” he commented, “but, when you leave it alone, it will usually leave you alone.” He got up with a groan and joined Oikawa who had settled down between some rocks and was already rubbing his eyes, watching the fire grow stronger.
“Usually, huh?” He chuckled, “It’s not like I’m scared. It’s just my first time travelling through woods at night,” he looked at Hajime but his eyes were already half-lidded, ”with only a stranger at my side.” Oikawa grinned slowly.
After reassuring Hajime that he could take the first watch, the prince watched the merchant fall asleep within minutes. And Hajime basked in the silence. That’s maybe why he lingered on the other’s face for a bit longer than necessary before turning to the fire, listening to the forest talk and going into his usual routine of giving into a light sleep that still let him be alert to changes in his surroundings.
That’s why Hajime woke up, when the air around him changed. He opened his eyes first taking in his surroundings. He usually tried to avoid any hasty movement and that was a good thing, because what slowly creeped around the ring of light was certainly nothing you’d want to aggravate. The creature was wolfish, that much Hajime could tell, and it growled as Hajime shifted his legs. Apart from that he just stared and glowing turquoise eyes stared back.
It felt like an eternity before it moved its gaze, it was like they had come to a mutual understanding and it was about to retract into the shadows, when Oikawa suddenly stirred and woke up with a yelp. Hajime immediately had his hand on the other’s chest to push him back to the ground: “Don’t move.”
Before he could turn back to the creature, his concentration momentarily switched to Oikawa’s heart, which seemed to be beating out of his chest.
“Kill it Hajime, go on and kill it!” Oikawa’s voice was cracking, and barely came out which Hajime was thankful for at this moment because the creature had turned and was now stalking closer, as if sensing Oikawa’s fear.
Hajime kept his hand on Oikawa’s chest but didn’t respond. The slight pressure that was partially to keep the other flat on the ground was also begging him to stay calm. His eyes were locked on the creature. His breathing had become flat but steady and his posture automatically straightened up, ready to jump up and fight.
The wolfish paw's took a few steps towards them but it was slowing, sniffing the air around Hajime as if it was looking for something and that's when Hajime stopped breathing.
The creature halted. Its ears were twitching, but as before, glowing eyes were now fixed on Hajime alone.
As Hajime zoned in on the animal, he couldn’t even hear the sound of the fire anymore, or the woods around them. It seemed like the world around them had come to a halt. He was ready to jump up and defend himself but every second that ticked by made him more hopeful.
Then when the fire suddenly crackled, the moment was over, Hajime blinked and the wolf was gone.
The prince took a second to let his eyes lose focus before turning to Oikawa.
“It’s gone. Are you ok?” His hand was still on Oikawa’s chest and so he could feel that his heart had already slowed down by a lot but when he met Oikawa’s eyes he couldn’t pinpoint what the other was thinking at all. Oikawa finally nodded and they didn’t talk much after that. Oikawa seemed to have fallen asleep again after some time. But the meeting before kept Hajime awake until the sun came up.
He carefully woke Oikawa and they gathered their belongings in silence before continuing their journey. Once they started walking Oikawa seemed to have found his voice, and kept blabbering just like the day before. That way time somehow went by quickly and Hajime turned to Oikawa just before they arrived at the city, the other was weirdly quiet.
He was gone.