FE: If Halloween Gift Exchange
For @airimeri, who requested Leo/Takumi, those dorks
The invitation was addressed from Princess Elise, which was the only reason Takumi didn’t reject it out of hand when Sakura ran in, breathless with excitement. He didn’t have a good excuse to avoid Nohr’s youngest princess. Not that he had a real excuse to avoid its younger prince, either.
Sure, he and Leo had exchanged some recipes; maybe they even some common interests. That didn’t mean he had to like the man, or spend any more time with him than necessary, now that the war was over and everyone had gone home.
But now Princess Elise had invited them all to experience autumn in Nohr, and Ryoma seemed inclined to accept. Sakura was certainly eager to go; Takumi hadn’t read the whole letter, but apparently the itinerary proposed by Princess Elise appealed to her.
Takumi didn’t know what was so great about autumn in Nohr, but he was going to find out, whether he liked it or not. Hinoka had made it clear that his whining- he hadn’t been whining, thank you very much! It was perfectly reasonable not to want to travel so far for no reason- wasn’t going to get him out of anything. They were turning over a new leaf in international relations, and spending time with the Nohrian royal family was an important part of that. Or so he was told, in no uncertain terms.
Maybe he would get lucky, and only Princess Elise would have time to show them around. Surely there were more important things demanding the other Nohrian siblings’ attention.
~o~
Surely there were more valuable things he could be doing than accompanying the Hoshidan siblings around the Nohrian countryside, Leo thought, examining Elise’s proposed itinerary for the upcoming visit. What a cliche list of activities. Leo hadn’t visited a pumpkin patch for years, and didn’t need to do it again now.
“I think I have other engagements,” he said, returning the list.
Elise pouted, hand on her hips. “Xander said you’d say that. He said to tell you that he’s cleared your calendar. Besides, it’ll be fun! We can show them everything fun to do in Nohr!”
“I’m sure it would be more fun if you showed them,” Leo tried.
“Well, of COURSE I’ll show them, but you’re coming too,” Elise informed him. It was clear the subject was closed. Sometimes Elise was even more adamant than Xander.
“I’m not rolling in any leaves.” Her laugh in lieu of response wasn’t exactly reassuring, but Leo had to draw the line somewhere. The last time he’d done that… he couldn’t even remember. It didn’t work out well in real life, he knew that.
“Just wait, Leo,” Elise giggled. “It’ll be so much fun.”
Something told Leo he wasn’t the only one who wouldn’t be enjoying himself. Xander and Prince Ryoma might humor their sisters, and Camilla might get up to just about anything, but he couldn’t imagine Prince Takumi willingly rolling in leaves. Not that Leo wanted to associate himself with Hoshido’s youngest prince, but it was easier to get out of things with someone else. Leo would do what he had to, and they did have some things in common, after all. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.
~o~
Takumi looked up at the mountains surrounding Nohr’s capital and shivered. It was already much colder than back home. The seasons didn’t shift so suddenly in Hoshido, and Takumi wasn’t ready for the biting chill yet. He sighed. This was shaping up to be more of a pain than he’d expected. They’d arrived late last night, and settled into grey, impersonal guest rooms; he’d expected depressing, since this was Nohr, after all, but Takumi had been almost surprised by how dull the stone walls were. The view out here in the countryside was hardly better, just sweeping fields in autumn colors.
“Come on, come on,” Princess Elise cheered. “We have to find the best pumpkin!”
Sakura giggled, taking her hand and skipping into the field of orange squash. Takumi could hear Princess Camilla teasing Hinoka somewhere behind him. Unwise, Takumi thought; even if it was just something like choosing the best vegetable specimen, Hinoka wouldn’t give in without a fight. Sure enough, his older sister bounded into the field a moment later, shouting about how the older Nohrian princess wouldn’t defeat her so easily. So easily as what, exactly, Takumi wasn’t sure. No one had explained what the “best pumpkin” was supposed to look like.
He wasn’t sure it mattered. Still, even Ryoma and King Xander were taking this seriously, accompanying Princess Corrin through the tangled vines.
“If you just pick one, we can make an excuse to go back to the castle,” Prince Leo said, appearing at Takumi’s side.
He jumped. “I don’t need you to tell me that,” Takumi snapped reflexively, then processed what Leo had actually said. He wondered what the catch was.
“Well, if you want to stay out here in the mud.” Leo raised an eyebrow at him.
Takumi looked away. Out in the field, Princess Elise was running through the vines with a pumpkin larger than her torso. Sakura was struggling to follow her with a much smaller squash. Hinoka and Camilla seemed to think the best pumpkins were the farthest away; he could barely see them anymore. No, he didn’t particularly want to spend more time here than he needed to.
“I don’t want one,” Takumi muttered.
Leo rolled his eyes. “Elise won’t stand for that. Come on, let’s just get this over with.”
Takumi grumbled, but let Leo grab his elbow and pull him into the pumpkin patch. It was easier to follow along and complain than make a scene.
“This is ridiculous,” he muttered, trying not to step in too much mud.
“I don’t like it either,” Leo retorted. “Just pick a pumpkin so we can get out of here.”
Takumi did, making sure to find one that was bigger than Leo’s. It was the principal of the thing.
By the look on Leo’s face, he wasn’t impressed by Takumi’s choice. Still, aside from a slight smirk, he didn’t comment. Takumi pretended not to notice.
On the way back, Leo explained that Elise wanted them all to carve faces into the pumpkins; it didn’t make much sense to Takumi, but Leo’s shrug when he asked was equally mystified.
“Does there have to be a reason?” Leo asked. “Historically, I’m certain there is some superstitious basis for it, but we’re only carving pumpkins because Elise thinks it will be fun.”
Takumi didn’t have a response that wouldn’t come across as churlish. So he sat through Elise’s excited explanations, once everyone else returned to the castle; he scooped startlingly cold mush out of his pumpkin; he carved a clumsy face into it, and listened to his family enjoying themselves. The whole process was much more difficult than he had anticipated. He had to admit, though, once the pumpkins were filled with candles and Elise was handing around the roasted seeds, that he was enjoying himself. Maybe it was the low light, or the warm fire, or the fact that Leo’s pumpkin was just was clumsily done as his own; whatever it was, Takumi made sure not to let it show on his face. It wouldn’t do to let them think he could be won over so easily.
By Leo’s smirk, he had all that figured out, too. At least between their older sisters’ playful bickering, Xander and Ryoma showering Corrin in attention, and Elise loudly forcing pumpkin seeds on Sakura, Leo was the only one paying much attention to Takumi.
~o~
Leo made sure to wear an old pair of boots for Elise’s next adventure; he’d been able to excuse himself from the pumpkin patch by escorting Takumi back to the castle, but he didn’t dare hope he would be able to get out of doing the corn maze so easily. The mud promised to be horrendous.
“Corn maze, Corrin maze, Corrin in the corn maze,” Elise chanted, pushing their beloved sister through the quaint woven archway. Camilla and Princess Honoka were long gone, apparently determined to make a competition of every one of Elise’s activities. Predictably, Xander and Ryoma accompanied Corrin, leaving Leo and Takumi trying to avoid Elise’s attention, with Sakura standing nearly in her shadow.
Behind him, Takumi snorted at Elise’s antics. A critical mistake; as soon as their older siblings vanished into the corn, Elise rounded on the two of them.
“You’re next!” She announced, planting her hands firmly on her hips.
“Shouldn’t someone, ah, stay on the outside, just in case…” Leo attempted, lost for any reason they might need such a precaution.
“Don’t be a spoilsport, Leo,” Elise pouted. “You two, go on.”
Leo sighed. Takumi was looking at him in mild horror. “Nothing to be done for this one,” Leo told him, grabbing the other prince’s shoulder and walking him up to the maze.
Elise cheered. “We’ll see you later!”
“Have fun,” Sakura echoed. Leo narrowed his eyes at them; Sakura had much the same satisfied expression on her face as Elise was sporting.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Takumi said, shaking off Leo’s hand.
“It’s just a corn maze.” Leo looked over his shoulder at their little sisters. Privately, he had to agree with Takumi.
“A Corrin maze,” Takumi muttered. Half a smile floated across his face, vanishing as Leo turned to look at him.
“Don’t encourage her,” Leo sad disapprovingly. Elise certainly didn’t need it. “Let’s get through this.”
Takumi rolled his eyes, with a sideways glance at Leo. “How hard can it be.”
Hard, apparently. An indeterminate amount of time later, Leo and Takumi were still lost in identical corridors of corn, differentiated only by the depth of the mud on the paths. Leo made a sound of irritation, and Takumi turned on him, frustrated color high on his cheeks.
“Haven’t you done this before?” Takumi demanded.
Knowing that he must be looking almost as disheveled as Takumi, with bits of hair loose from his ponytail sticking haphazardly across his forehead, Leo could feel his own face flush. “It isn’t as though the pattern is the same every year.” Elise hadn’t managed to drag Leo out to a corn maze for years, either.
Takumi just glared at him. Leo preferred the expression to the sullen look Takumi had been wearing thus far, but only just. That flicker of a smile earlier had been nice… Leo shook that thought out of his head. Half of an ordinary smile didn’t mean much of anything. “There’s nothing to do but keep trying, unless you need a minute to rest after trudging through all this mud,” Leo finally said.
“We could just cut through it,” Takumi suggested, casting a dark look at the dry stalks.
“Elise would kill us both,” Leo muttered. “Come on, I don’t think we’ve been down this path.”
Somewhat to Leo’s surprise, Takumi let himself be turned down Leo’s chosen path, saying something about his lack of options under his breath. A few turns later, and the churned mud under their feet thinned; Leo assumed they were on the way out. Less mud probably meant less people had backtracked over this spot. Takumi sighed in relief.
“I was starting to think your entire countryside was ankle-deep muck,” he grinned, before looking startled by his own cheerful reaction.
“I was starting to think the same thing,” Leo told him. “This is why I don’t spend much time in it.”
That got a short laugh out of Takumi, as they finally, finally rounded the corner onto a clear path out of the maze. Leo smiled back, enjoying how easily they could get along when Takumi forgot to fight about it. The moment ended quickly enough as Camilla and Hinoka descended on them, full of commentary about how long they had taken.
~o~
He was getting sick of letting Leo take the lead, Takumi thought grumpily, as they sat side by side in the hay-filled wagon Elise had arranged to take them to an apple orchard. He was getting sick of Leo’s knowing smiles, too, like the one on his face now as he passed Takumi a thick scarf. Still, Takumi took it without protest; the wind was cold. Hoshido wasn’t this cold so early in the season.
Leo scooted a little closer to pull the scarf tighter around Takumi’s neck. “You really are clueless, aren’t you.”
“I know how to put on a scarf,” Takumi protested, making an attempt to press away. Maybe he shouldn’t have chosen to sit right in the last spot in the corner, but it had looked the warmest… Leo jostled him as Elise crowded into his space at the other side. “Careful!”
“Sorry,” Elise giggled, craning around Leo to look at him. She clearly wasn’t sorry, and also didn’t move, turning sideways on the bench seat to talk to Sakura.
Leo dropped his hands and shifted, but Elise hadn’t left him any room to move away. As much as Takumi tried to tell himself it didn’t matter- it wasn’t a very big wagon, and the rest of them were all sitting close!- he spent the rest of the ride very conscious of Leo at his side.
The Nohrian countryside was… not unappealing, as Takumi watched it flow past; stark, maybe, and certainly colder than he liked, but sitting here next to Leo, listening to their families laughing, Takumi had to admit he was happy. A little. Not that he wanted to spend any more time this way, but it was fine. Looking over at Leo, Takumi wasn’t sure whether he should be furious or embarrassed at the other prince’s smirk, like he knew everything Takumi was thinking.
Once they reached the orchard, Takumi couldn’t help shivering as he climbed off the wagon. He’d been pleasantly warm for a minute there, with Leo sitting so close.
There was a picturesque barn, and rows of heavily laden apple trees stretching out past it; the whole place was bustling with more people than Takumi had expected. It was nearly a festival atmosphere.
“Still feeling the cold?” Leo asked, louder than he needed to. Takumi could see some of their siblings turn toward them.
“I’m fin-” Takumi started to hiss- why would Leo care, and why would he draw so much attention to it- but Leo moved in closer with a fixed smile, nudging Takumi to look at the barn.
“Looks like there’s a bonfire over there,” Leo continued, and the look in his eyes definitely didn’t match the pleasant smile on his lips. “Why don’t the rest of you get started, and I’ll take Takumi over to warm up.”
Takumi looked at their siblings, at Leo, at the rows of trees bustling with people, and assumed a bright, fake smile of his own. “I am feeling chilled.” Now that he looked closer, the ground between the trees looked suspiciously similar to the texture of the corn maze.
Xander nodded seriously at them, and Ryoma waved them off; their sister's eyes all glittered with varying degrees of suspicion and satisfaction, but Takumi didn’t feel like thinking about that, at the moment. Between crawling through more uneven mud and sitting by a fire, he had an easy choice to make. Even doing it with Leo was better than more terrain like the corn maze.
Leo looked satisfied as they settled onto one of the rough log benches around the fire. “This is working even better than I expected.”
“Why are you trying so hard to avoid participating?” Takumi asked, holding his hands out toward the flames.
The question seemed to surprise Leo. Takumi wondered if it was the same for him, that he was just too used to protesting. Or even closer to Takumi’s darker feelings, where he still couldn’t quite stop doubting that his siblings loved him just as much now that Corrin was back. Leo didn’t seem like the type to have those kinds of doubts, even if he was similar to Takumi in other ways.
“Well, you are cold, aren’t you?” Leo deflected.
“Just because you were sitting so close on the way here,” Takumi retorted without thinking. “I was perfectly warm then. “ He could feel himself blush as he said it; he shouldn’t have brought attention to it at all.
“I think they’re selling cider in the barn,” Leo said abruptly, striding away before Takumi could so much as blink. He scowled. Great, now everything was even more awkward than before. He’d been getting used to dodging the rest of their siblings’ enthusiasm with Leo, and now… Well, now that he was sure he’d ruined it, he could admit that he liked spending time with Leo.
Leo came back with cups of hot cider before Takumi could get too entrenched in negative thoughts, but the haze of frustrated anxiety he’d raised around himself was more than enough.
Leo handed him a cup and Takumi fumbled it, grabbing a handful of Leo’s fingers with it; they both nearly dropped it, overcompensated, left both of their hands wrapped around the cup for a few seconds too long.
“Careful, it’s hot,” Leo said, empty words barely reaching Takumi through the buzz of his nerves.
What was he even nervous about? He didn’t even like- fine, he had already admitted that to himself. He did like Leo, who was sitting there with one ironically arched brow, looking like it was beneath him to be confused by Takumi’s sudden lack of coordination. So what if he did? He was supposed to like Leo now; it was all part of this new era of international relations that had forced him out here in the first place.
He just probably wasn’t supposed to like the other prince so much. He fidgeted, scowled, and glanced over at Leo, who was still watching him with that serene expression of confident superiority. Takumi wanted to take some drastic action, to knock that look off Leo’s face.
Taking a sip of cider instead, Takumi tried to concentrate on the drink. It was surprisingly soothing. “This is good.”
Leo made a noncommittal noise. “Elise would be pleased to hear that. I believe it’s on her list.”
“It’s a long list,” Takumi said, just for the sake of saying something. “This trip has been eye-opening.”
“She hasn’t even made anyone roll in leaves yet,” Leo commented. Takumi could still feel Leo looking at him, and gave in to the urge to look back. His usual smirk seemed warmer, somehow. “Are you still cold?”
Beginning to protest that the entire issue of being cold was just an excuse in the first place, Takumi paused, narrowing his eyes at Leo. “A little.”
Leo looked startled, for a moment, but Takumi remembered Elise nearly shoving them together at every opportunity, and the rather telling fact that Leo himself had initiated this whole dodgy set of excuses to spend time apart from the others.
Leo set his cider aside and moved into Takumi’s space to adjust his borrowed scarf the same way he had on the ride here. He didn’t move back when he was done, even without his little sister there to force him into it.
“I don’t know what else to do about that,” Leo said, voice dropping low as his smile turned teasing.
That look might do it, Takumi thought, as a shiver ran down his spine from the expression in Leo’s eyes. He could feel his cheeks heating, at least. “Don’t you pride yourself on knowing all sorts of unnecessary things?” It was continuing to meet Leo’s eyes that was important, not the words; Takumi was grateful for that, because he wasn’t sure how much more insipid he could sound.
“I prefer to be sure before I jump into things,” Leo breathed, leaning in a little farther.
“I prefer taking action,” Takumi retorted, tilting his face into perfect alignment with Leo’s.
Leo kissed him, brushing Takumi’s hair back from his face with cold fingers, and Takumi regretted the cider he was still holding. He’d like to find out if Leo’s golden hair was a silk-soft as it looked. He settled for kissing back, forgetting for a moment that is was broad daylight in a public place, and their siblings might come back at any time. Nearly giddy with relief, Takumi grinned against Leo’s mouth.
“I suppose I have some ideas after all,” Leo murmured, pulling back a little. Takumi could still feel Leo’s breath, warm against his flushed skin. “For later.”
That sent heat rushing through Takumi’s whole body even more effectively than the fire behind them. This whole visit was turning out to be fun after all.
~o~
Out in the orchard, Sakura dropped an apple into Elise’s bag. “Do you think it’s working?”
Elise looked back at the barn over her shoulder. “I literally cannot think of a single more romantic thing. Did you see Leo with the scarf? If he can’t get anywhere with hot cider and a bonfire after that, he’s more hopeless than I thought.”
Sakura giggled. “They’re so stubborn.”
“They’re so uptight and stupid,” Elise growled. “I think it’s working, though.”
“It would be a shame to have arranged all this for nothing,” Sakura agreed.
“If I have to push them both in a leaf pile I will.” Elise studied the branch in front of them, choosing the most symmetrical apple she could find. “We can give them a little more time with the scenic orchard setting first, though.”
“This is very nice. I’m having fun, even if our brothers aren’t.”
Elise laughed, pulling Sakura deeper into the trees. “Good! Come on, we need the best apples we can find for caramel apples. That might get them, if all else fails. I’m sure I can figure out a way to get them to feed one another.” She had plenty of ideas after that, too. Leo and Takumi weren’t going to foil their scheme; it was for their own good, after all.