#Yata starts thinking maybe he can go home another time bc someone needs to take care of Saruhiko

[ridiasfangirlings]

Cute wolf ear Yata yes please *^* So imagine Fushimi is like this traveling merchant making his own way in life, he ran away from his village as soon as he was old enough to be on his own and he's been traveling by himself ever since. His mother is this really skilled trader who briefly quit her profession when she married her genius husband Niki, only to leave both her husband and son once she realized what a shitweasel Niki was. Everyone in the town hated Niki, who was a genius but refused to use his intellect for anything besides pranks and teasing his young son. Even once Niki died Fushimi could tell that he wasn't welcome in town, a few townspeople tried to act like they would watch over him but Fushimi knew they were only doing so because it made them look good and really no one cared about him. Once he had enough money saved he bought a cart and a horse and set off on his own, traveling from town to town and never stopping anywhere for long.

One night he's sleeping in his cart on the outskirts of the village, even though it's cold out and Fushimi dislikes how uncomfortable the cart is he still never sleeps in actual villages. He's curled up on himself shivering when he suddenly feels this warmth around him, it makes him sleepy and he actually manages to get a decent night's sleep. He wakes up the next morning to find a cute wolf boy wrapped around him, Fushimi's immediately up with a knife in his hand demanding to know who this stranger is and why they're in his cart. Yata yawns as he sits up, he's totally naked and his ears and tail are obvious. Yata wonders why Fushimi's pointing a knife at him, like you know without me you probably woulda frozen to death. Fushimi snorts and says some shrimpy wolf isn't enough to keep someone from freezing to death, Yata's like don't call me shrimpy even as he stands up and proudly proclaims himself this great red wolf who protects the village. Fushimi snorts and says Yata's some stray idiot who stayed here too long then, like obviously this town isn't the type now to need to ask any kind of guardian deity to watch their crops so Yata's likely been useless here for ages. Yata tries to deny it but eventually he ends up having to grudgingly admit that Fushimi's right, he came here a long time ago and now he wants to go home. Fushimi doesn't see what that has to do with him and Yata grins as he's like because I'm letting you be the guy who takes me back.

Fushimi's immediately like no thanks get out of my cart, Yata's all come on I'm a great wise wolf offering to help you you should be thankful asshole. Fushimi says Yata's just a stowaway and Yata kinda has to scramble to convince Fushimi not to kick him out, like I swear I can help, a skinny guy like you probably needs protection right I can do that. Fushimi shows off all his hidden knives and says he doesn't need protection, especially from a shrimpy wolf, and Yata's like maybe I should just eat you okay how about that. Fushimi eventually agrees to at least take Yata to the next town, tossing a cloak at him and telling him to get dressed and keep quiet or else Fushimi really will push him out of the moving cart.

So at first their relationship is super antagonistic, Fushimi doesn't have any interest in Yata and Yata's starting to think maybe he should find another cart. But then they get to town and maybe Yata gets to see Fushimi's merchant skills, like despite his bad personality Fushimi's a really amazing merchant. At one point though his bad attitude starts to get him in trouble and Yata steps in, like Yata's outspoken honest personality helps smooth things over and get some potential clients to agree to trade with Fushimi because they take Yata to be trustworthy. Fushimi grudgingly admits that Yata was helpful and Yata's like see we could be a great team, you're an amazing guy and I could help you be even more amazing. No one's ever called Fushimi amazing before and he finds himself agreeing to take Yata a little farther at least.

Soon they're basically traveling everywhere together, Yata trying to get info about his hometown Homra in between work. Fushimi finds himself getting more and more on edge though the closer they seem to be getting to Homra, like he's starting to get used to having Yata there and he doesn't want Yata to leave him. Yata's starting to have his own misgivings too, like he really wants to go home but he also feels like Fushimi is someone he can't leave alone, without Yata there to make sure he eats and sleeps and doesn't do anything stupid because he thinks he's smarter than everyone then who knows what kind of trouble Fushimi could get in (also imagine at some point Fushimi pisses off the wrong guy and gets kidnapped, Yata goes after him and Fushimi gets to see Yata's real form as this huge red wolf that starts attacking all Fushimi's assailants in order to save him).