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mc-park · 1 year ago

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…𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜: In which Heizou takes you to see Inazuma’s Summer Festival, but that’s not what you’ll remember the outing for. …𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: Fluff, pining. …𝚆𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜: Crowds, I guess? …𝙻𝚎𝚗𝚐𝚝𝚑: 3,632 words. …𝙰𝚍𝚍𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚒𝚗𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗: Gender-neutral reader, modern AU, friends-to-lovers, mentions of Japanese street food and festival games. Reblogs and comments are appreciated.

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𝚂𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚔𝚕𝚎𝚛.

“This way, hurry!”

Your heels drove into the floor to propel yourself forwards as you forced your way through the crowd. Heizou slipped ahead of you, weaving past the sea of arms and torsos with skill you could envy. Your blood rushed in your ears. The hot pulse thrummed in time with your heartbeat. Somebody knocked their elbow into your ribs. You felt the air being forced out from your lungs.

“Careful!” Heizou said, glancing at you from over his shoulder. You would have called back “I know!”, but you were too winded to speak. “Don’t get lost, now. We’re almost there!”

Another influx of people flooded past, forcing you back into the main body of the crowd. You felt yourself be pushed forwards, right, left, pulled this way and that like a fish floundering against a current. Is it always this busy? you thought, drawing your clothes tighter around yourself.

“Quickly, over here! There’s an opening in the crowd!”

You sighed and picked up the pace, internally lamenting the crumpled, twisted state of your yukata as you did. You’d wanted to wear something nice for tonight. It was, after all, a long-awaited occasion. The fact that Heizou was here had nothing to do with it.

As promised, a gap appeared in the people ahead of you. You squeezed past a final troupe of people, elbowing your way past a tourist group, and made towards the gap at lightning speed.

The situation was this: ever since you’d first come to study in Inazuma, there was one thing you’d wanted to see here—the Teyvat-renowned Summer Festival. When you arrived, you’d missed it just shy of a week. During the second, workload and life got in the way of things (as they had a tendency to do), and by the time the third Summer Festival of your stay rolled around, you had accepted that this dream of yours was unlikely to happen, and with the same mourning feeling of bidding goodbye to an old friend, you let the dream go. After two missed festivals, you reasoned, you could survive one more. There were other, more important things to focus on, anyhow.

That of course was upturned the moment a certain Shikanoin Heizou, by now a close friend of yours whom you’d made shortly after you arrived, asked you off-handedly one day, “Hey, wanna come to the Summer Festival with me?” You had jumped at the chance as any sensible person would. He’d grinned in response.

And that is how you found yourself squished up in a sea of vibrantly-dressed festival goers on a hot summer evening, practically suffocated by the close quarters. It was not, admittedly, the most flattering start to the night.

“We should have taken another way around,” you muttered bitterly, brushing yourself off as you broke free of the crowd, although you didn’t really mean it. You were glad to be here in the first place. Oxygen was a necessary sacrifice you were willing to make.

“You alright?” Heizou asked as you sidled up beside him. It took a moment for you to catch your breath.

“Yeah. Somewhat flattened,” you admitted finally, earning a sympathetic laugh from Heizou, “but it feels good to breathe again.”

He nodded. “That’s a relief. Sorry about that, by the way. I could’ve taken us down a less busy route.”

“It’s okay. It was me who wanted to go through the main entrance, anyway.”

Heizou glanced over at you, briefly pausing. “Oh, your yukata—”

“I know,” you sighed. You brushed down the front of the garment and readjusted the collar which had been twisted sideways in the scuffle. “So much for looking good for the festival, huh?”

Heizou clicked his tongue. “Come on, don’t say that. You look amazing.”

You weren’t completely convinced, but you thanked him anyway. For a moment, you watched the ocean of people flow past, a mesmerising array of bright colours and patterned kimonos. You supposed it was your fault for trying to get in at the busiest time of the evening.

“Do you still want to continue through the stalls?” Heizou asked once the human flood died down a little.

You scoffed light-heartedly. “What kind of a question is that? Of course I do.” Heizou flashed you another smile and reached for your hand. Before he could set off and pull you along through the park hosting the festival, you added, “Maybe in a slightly less crowded area, though.”

“Got it.”

And you were off again. Heizou took the lead in showing you around, since he knew where he was going and you did not. You walked shoulder-to-shoulder through the assorted festival stalls, occasionally jostled about by the colourful crowd, talking and laughing as you went. Well, Heizou did most of the talking, while you admired all the decorations like a wide-eyed child.

“Someone's enjoying themselves,” he commented with a sly grin once he finished recounting a tale about this fraud-warning show he’d tried putting on some time ago.

“Oh, be quiet, you,” you grumbled, batting him lightly on the arm. He bumped your shoulder in return.

“Ooh, hang on.” Heizou stopped in his tracks. He was looking at something behind you.

You turned around to see what had caught his attention. “What is it?” you asked.

“Sparklers,” he replied with a grin, already making for the stall in question. You trailed after him in pursuit.

“Aren’t sparklers dangerous in a space as packed as this?” you queried as you pushed yourselves into the winding queue.

“Well, technically yeah,” he admitted, “But you only live once, right?”

You raised a brow. “Only living once to die to a sparkler sounds like a pretty sorry way to go.”

“Here,” he said, decidedly ignoring your comment and offering you a fizzling sparkler, “have one. My intuition tells me it’s perfectly safe.”

For all your criticism, you thanked him and took it—though you couldn’t resist adding, “If this is where I die, I’m blaming you and your intuition.”

Heizou’s face fell in an expression of mock offence as he took back his change for the sparklers. “When has my intuition ever been wrong?” he asked. You were forced to admit he had a point. Walking back up to you, he continued, “And besides, do you really trust me so little to save you? To whisk you away from danger at a moment’s notice?”

You clicked your tongue. “Afraid so. Against a formidable sparkler,” you waved the aforementioned item in front of his face, and tiny sparks leapt out from it like fireflies, “I’m not sure even the mighty Shikanoin Heizou stands a chance.”

“Careful with that. You could poke someone’s eye out.”

Exasperated with his teasing hypocrisy, you sighed and didn’t reply. You resumed your walk for a few more minutes, taking in the decorated maple trees and the dusk air, sparklers spitting gold, before Heizou stopped again in the middle of the gravel path without warning.

“Let’s go this way,” he said, stepping off the path and into the grass.

“Why?”

His smile and mysterious tone of voice revealed nothing. “Just come.”

“Okay…”

You let Heizou tug you up the hill around which the celebrations were being held. The maple trees thinned the higher you went until you had a full view of the sky overhead. The city’s skyscrapers winked their neon lights at you, rising like glittering columns from the surrounding treeline below. Faintly, you could make out the sounds of traffic in the distance.

A deep indigo was setting into the evening sky and revealed little studded stars as it darkened, marking the transition from dusk to nightfall. Only a faint red flush told you that sunset had yet to end.

People were trickling steadily in from the surrounding paths which lead from the main activities, but it was quieter here than in the middle of the festive throng. Colder, too. You hadn’t taken notice of the cool summer wind when you were being crushed amid moving bodies, but here, in this relative isolation, it became apparent that the night was not as hot as you’d thought it was.

Just as you were going to suggest finding somewhere warmer to stand—behind a tree, maybe, to block the breeze—the last crimson blush faded from the horizon. Heizou put a hand on each of your shoulders and whispered into your ear, “Surprise!”

No sooner had he spoken than the night came alive with colour. Dazzling twisters of pink and blue sprang into the sky, squealing as they burst into shimmering showers of gold over the treeline. Red, sparkling rockets were set off in the shapes of foxes and kitsune masks which exploded among the constellations like they were dancing with the stars themselves.

“Woah,” was all you could get out before your jaw fell open. To your right, Heizou’s mouth tugged into a smile which half matched your own excitement and was half smug.

“That’s what you wanted to see right?”

You nodded, not really paying attention to what he was saying.

“How do you like it?” he prodded.

A redundant question, but you answered it anyway. “It’s… I mean, it’s incredible.”

Heizou chuckled and pressed a kiss to your cheek in an action too quick for you to register. “I’m glad you like it.” He tugged on your hand, leading you further into the stalls. “Come on, let’s go find a better spot to watch it from.”

You let him pull you forwards. The kiss hit seconds later. The moment it clocked you, you felt your face light up like a furnace. Your limbs went stiff, like they were locked at the joints, and you were rendered frozen for a good while, practically being dragged along by Heizou while your feet stumbled uselessly over the ground. Wait, when had your heart started racing? Bemused, you lifted your hand to lightly touch the tingling spot he’d marked, the fireworks a distant afterthought.

You came back to your senses when you reached the hilltop. You and Heizou nudged your way through the crowd, all donned in plastic kitsune masks and holding wooden gohei, until you found an open space and sat down on the grass. Once more your attention was captivated by the fireworks display, and the kiss was a fleeting memory gone in the next burst of colour.

You watched the rest of the fireworks in awed silence. The display went on for a few minutes more, and the glittering colour faded from the sky all too quickly.

“Good show, right?” Heizou’s voice snapped you back to the present moment. He was looking at you intently, like he was studying your expression for a sign of your own opinion. In the olives of his irises, you could faintly make out the glittering reflection of the fireworks’ dying showers. “I heard Naganohara Fireworks played a big hand in it this year. What did you think?”

You floundered for words, struggling to find a way to articulate your answer. Finally, you succeeded in stammering out, “I’ve never seen anything like it before in my life.” You shook your head, disbelieving. To think you’d practically given up on coming—and you wouldn’t have, if not for him. “Thank you for taking me here. Seriously. It’s everything I could have hoped for.”

“No problem,” Heizou replied, his smile contagious. “It’s my pleasure.” He stood up from the grass and stretched widely. You suspected it was for dramatic effect: you’d hardly been sitting long enough to develop a cramp, much less in the arms. He dropped his arms to his side and shot you a grin. “Do you want to go and get some taiyaki?”

You barely had the time to say ‘yes’ before you were pulled to your feet and into a run, ducking and weaving between the crowd, your laughter mingling in the air as you went. The stream of people thickened again as you entered the main length of the path; shoved about backwards and forwards, your hand slipped from his and a row of passersby blocked your vision. When they cleared, Heizou had vanished among the crowd.

You turned from side to side in a futile attempt to locate him. Just as you were reaching into your pocket to call him on your phone, you felt a tap on your shoulder. There he stood, grinning, holding two paper bags containing one taiyaki each. His mouth moved as he said something you couldn’t make out over the crowd’s hubbub, and he held out one of the bags to you. You accepted it with a ‘thank you’ and, chewing on the snack as you went, elbowed your ways into a less crowded space.

“This is really good,” you remarked, taking another bite from the fish’s sorry head. The pastry was crispy on the outside, yet chewy and not too firm, and the red bean filling was still warm. You spoke around your mouthful, “And it’s not too sweet, either.”

“I know, right?” Heizou nodded towards the taiyaki he was holding. “I suspect the secret to these is in the batter: they probably leave out the egg when making it, so the pastry is more crispy.”

You swallowed down a large chunk of the stuff. “That makes sense.”

Once you finished the taiyaki, you moved along through the other stalls, splashing out on festival foods and having a go at games like shateki, during which you made the pleasant discovery of having a very good aim with low-quality guns, and wanage, during which you discovered Heizou was much better at throwing rings than you were. By the time you’d exhausted all the stalls, it was well into the later hours of night. The crowd thinned slowly. You and Heizou made your way back through the emptying park, occasionally glancing at games which still caught your interest.

“I ate way too much,” you groaned, holding what felt like a swollen lump in your stomach. “Nobody should have that much fried food.”

Heizou agreed as he stretched out his arms again beside you. “If I see another piece of kaarage, I think I’m going to throw up.”

“I thought you loved fried food.”

“‘Loved’ being the keyword there,” he lamented. “Past tense.”

“Too much of a good thing, huh?”

“Something like that.”

You walked in silence for a few minutes, watching tourists and locals move throughout the stalls. The initial buzz of energy you felt when arriving here had lessened. It was calmer, now, yet also felt strangely lonely. Your sparkler produced a final, feeble sizzle of light before dying out. You were surprised it had hung on for so long at all. Its death seemed to mark the end of the festive spirit, too. Absentmindedly, you took out your phone and checked the time. 01:24.

“We should probably head back now,” you said, a touch regretfully. Heizou nodded.

“Yeah, I was thinking so, too.”

You passed your weight from foot to foot, hovering there awkwardly. Even though you’d spent a whole evening together, you didn’t want to say goodbye just yet. You searched your mind for some excuse to make.

“You know, I could walk you back,” you offered. “I doubt it’s dangerous because most people are at the festival, but better safe than sorry, right?”

A grin spread across Heizou’s face and brightened his eyes. “Oh? Are you volunteering to be my big, strong bodyguard?”

“Big, strong bodyguard at your service,” you confirmed, folding your arms across your chest, “to keep the damsel from harm.”

Heizou pressed his hand to his forehead in a fake swoon. “Oh, my, I can barely stand. Please, my good knight, save this poor, helpless—ah!” He tipped backwards too far in his swoon and stumbled into a surprised-looking tourist who dropped their gohei at the collision. He apologised and picked himself back up while you wheezed with laughter in the background.

“What the fuck,” you snorted once he rejoined you.

“I couldn’t handle your manliness,” he explained miserably. “I’m sorry.”

You shrugged, as if to say, fair enough. “You know what, I can forgive that. Not many people can.”

“Should we get going, then, my shining-armoured knight?”

“We shall.” Maybe it was the festival food getting to your head, but on a whim, you boldly held out your arm to Heizou. The thing was that you hadn’t been expecting him to actually take it. He hooked his elbow around yours, flashing you a confident grin which made your heart stutter, and bumped your shoulders together. Jitters shot down your arm from the contact.

A teasing slyness crept into Heizou’s voice. “What, is my bodyguard getting nervous? Tsk. How unmanly of you.”

“Oh, be quiet,” you grumbled. “The manliest people get nervous, too.”

He laughed brightly. Your face warmed. You always felt this kind of proud flush when you managed to make him smile.

You made your way to the park’s exit and set down the road, leaving the glowing lights of the Summer Festival behind you. You talked as you walked about whatever took your fancy: recent gossip, the news, workloads, and, when Heizou insisted on ‘protecting’ you from a street cat wandering around the bins by walking bravely in front of you and distracting it with a gohei you’d purchased earlier, the topic of bodyguards again. You raised your eyebrow after Heizou confirmed the cat was gone.

“I thought I was supposed to be the big, strong bodyguard here,” you remarked.

“Even the big, strong bodyguard needs a bodyguard themselves, you know.”

You pointed out, “Wouldn’t that bodyguard need a bodyguard too, though?”

“What a conundrum. I don’t think there are enough of us for infinite bodyguards—oh, speaking of which, I don’t think we’ll need any more bodyguards anyway. Here we are.”

You looked up to see a familiar door standing in front of you. A too familiar door. Your eyebrows furrowed. “Hang on a minute.”

Unknowingly, you must have led the two of you back to your place, not his. You grimaced, feeling guilty for bringing him here when you’d said you would take him back to his place. You yourself usually walked alone, so even though you knew where Heizou lived, you weren’t used to returning there. You’d probably walked this way without thinking. Muscle memory, you supposed.

“I don’t know how we ended up here.” You scratched your neck. “Er, sorry about that. I can still walk you to your place and come back afterwards, if you want.”

He shook his head. “No, there’s no need at all. We both got carried away while talking. I can make my own way back alone.”

You shifted in your place, guilt still gnawing at you with its little, irritating teeth. “Are you sure?”

“Mhm.” Teasingly, he added, “Don’t worry, I won’t get ambushed.”

You grumbled, but begrudgingly let go of your doubt. If he was sure, then he was sure.

“Um,” you began. “Thank you so much for today, by the way. Again. All of it was…” You trailed off, recollecting all the games, food, street performances, fireworks you’d seen that evening. They flooded back to you painted golden, like you were remembering them through the leaping light of a sparkler. “Archons, I can’t put it into words. Everything was amazing.”

He grinned at you, and it was the warmest thing you’d ever seen. “The pleasure was all mine.” He paused, then said, “You know, it’s not often I see you smiling as much as you did tonight.”

“Yeah, well,” you shrugged, “you do have a strange way of doing that to me.”

Instead of continuing the banter with another quip, Heizou stepped closer and opened his arms out in front of you expectantly: an invitation you knew well by now and could never resist. You stepped into his arms and he pressed you into a hug.

You didn’t hug many people, but there was something about Heizou’s hugs which made you feel so grounded and secure for all of his light-hearted demeanour. As you held each other this time, you noticed you could feel his breath on the side of your neck and his hair tickling your shoulder, and you wondered, Were you always this close when you hugged? His arms wrapped around you just a fraction tighter than they should; he kept the embrace for only a moment longer than a good friend would.

Before you could question it fully, he pulled away, still holding your hands. His hands were so warm.

“See you on campus tomorrow?”

“Not if I see you first.”

Heizou chuckled and narrowed his eyes at you. “Game’s on,” he said. You did the two-finger gesture of I’ve got my eye on you towards him. He wriggled his eyebrows in response, making you snort despite yourself.

Becoming serious for a moment, you said, “But… get home safely, alright?”

Heizou nodded and turned away to make his way down the street. “Will do. I’ll text you when I get back.” You waved a final goodbye, and he waved back with a casual call of, “Love you!”

To your surprise, your heart cinched without warning and heat rushed to your face at the words.

You slapped yourself out of it. Why were you reacting like this? This wasn’t anything new. Heizou said ‘I love you’ often, and you never really questioned it: it was a friend thing, surely. Tons of friends said ‘I love you’ to each other—and as an emotionally open person, why shouldn’t Heizou say it to you, his best friend, as his best friend?

Yet as you watched him go, you lifted your hand again to your cheek and wondered at the curious stutter in your chest as you recalled the brief token of something more he’d pressed to your cheek earlier that night. Electrifying and bright and too short-lived, like a sparkler.

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