Send me two muses and a one-word prompt and I’ll set a timer and write a drabble in exactly approximately five minutes.
Birthday cakes, Yagen Toushirou decides, are a curse.
Five seconds after the candle lighter drops and sets a portion of the tatami on fire, his first reaction isn’t to put out the flames, but grab Ichinii and get out of the darkened room as fast as he can. It’s easy enough to latch onto the gloved palm and pull the taller sword after him–behind him, he can hear Nakigitsune’s fox already making a fuss while some of the other swords work to douse the flames–but soon the scent of smoke and fire fade, to be replaced by the cool evening air of autumn outside their citadel.
‘Are you alright, Ichinii?’ he asks with a squeeze of his hand.
‘Ahnnn..?’ the drawl that comes from somewhere above him is decidedly not the tone of an imperial treasure sword.
Yagen pauses. First he looks at their hands–two gloves, yes, but both in black. The other one doesn’t even cover its owner’s fingertips. Then he follows the stranger’s arm up past a pale arm and black sleeve to a head of tousled hair. A single pair of glasses glint briefly in the evening light before dual-hued irises lock with his own.
‘Aren’t tantou supposed to be better at seeing in the dark?’
Yagen lets go of Akashi Kuniyuki and takes a step back. He’s already halfway across the gardens when the tachi’s lazy drawl reaches his ears.
‘It’s fine. Your brother left to find some plates before they lit the candles.’
He stops long enough to manage a stiff nod. ‘Alright.’ He starts walking again when–
‘If you don’t guide me back, I’ll just take a nap here~’
Which wouldn’t do, because this was the Saniwa’s birthday and they wanted all the swords there. Centuries of ingrained duty has the tantou doubling back to the tachi again, because he would be the kind to make good on his words.
‘Come on,’ Yagen urges. When Akashi only blinks at him with an easy grin, he grabs the man’s hand and start dragging him back. And if his grip suddenly slackens after they come upon the glowing birthday candles one more time, neither of them says a word.
Maybe he does appreciate the fact that Akashi is the one to squeeze his hand this time. Just a bit.