Chapter Text
Thoma had woken up a little past dawn and immediately smacked his palm on his forehead. So much for giving Ayato a piece of his mind.
By the time he hastily dressed himself and exited his chamber to prepare breakfast for the estate, Ayato was unsurprisingly gone. Thoma bit back the bitter taste of annoyance and the inadvertent yet familiar surge of slight loneliness he had now grown all but used to and carried on as usual.
"Excuse me if I am being too presumptuous, but is everything okay Thoma?" Ayaka said apprehensively as she eyed the supremely lavish breakfast spread consisting of numerous plates that occupied the entire table in front of her. Perhaps Thoma had done some extra stress cooking but it was the usual sort of stress cooking! Definitely not indicative of a sour mood or anything!
“Of course not, milady!” he said, pasting on his signature cheery smile.
Ayaka eyed Thoma for a moment before picking some items out of the sea of dishes to sample with no further comment. Thoma inwardly breathed out a sigh of relief and began digging in himself. By the time they were both done, Thoma was much more calm and satisfied. There was nothing like a good meal to smooth over a bumpy heart. Thoma turned to Ayaka to suggest they play a game of shogi before he was expected to meet Ayato, but she must have slipped away sometime during the meal while Thoma was fully preoccupied. It was incredibly odd that he didn't notice but he shrugged it off, deciding to use the extra time to get some housework done. The pathway needed some sweeping.
He got in about three solid sweeps before Furuta nearly chased him away from the stone path. She started by wildly swinging the handle of the broom to shoo him away, demonstrating surprising vitality for a woman of her age.
"Furuta, stop!"
"Hehe, no! Go! Away! You should be going to have fun on this special day! Not! Doing! Work!" she said, punctuated each sentence with a swing of her broom that was faster and stronger than a woman of her age and size should have been able to do. Thoma dodged each swing, gradually stepping closer and closer towards the sleeping quarters.
"If you'd just let me help, we could be done faster!"
"No! Now shoo!" Simultaneously, she snatched his broom from him and hurried away.
Not wanting to face the wrath of whatever had overtaken the other housekeeper, Thoma decided he way as well heed her words and slowly make his way to Amakame Island ahead of time and make himself useful there instead.
After ambling along and clearing a few treasure hoarder camps, he still managed to find himself halfway to his destination before the sun had even noticeably moved. He'd even stopped a couple of times along the way to look at the cherry blossoms, although they weren't able to keep his attention for long as he found his mind wandering and unfocused.
He was in the midst of zoning out when he encountered a few hilichurls. Normally, he'd swiftly activate his shield but with his reaction delayed, Thoma saw an arrow nearly in front of him. He squeezed his eyes, bracing for its impact, when he felt a strong tug that tipped him sideways. He tumbled to the ground.
"Ayato!" Thoma exclaimed, looking down and into Ayato's eyes, barely believing the man had appeared from nowhere and saved him.
"Hello Thoma," Ayato replied softly, looking up at Thoma showing no urgency from the moment prior. From Ayato's pull, Thoma ended up bracing both hands on the sides of Ayato’s head, pinning the shorter man below him accidentally. The blond coloured instantly upon noticing their compromising position. The corner of Ayato's mouth ticked upwards upon noticing Thoma’s flustered gaze.
Thoma scrambled up hastily and pushed himself up to his feet. With one hand covering his burning face, he held the other out for Ayato to take to help himself up. Although he felt so mortified that the flush in his face threatened to consume him, it was important that he still remembered his manners!
As Ayato reached out to take Thoma’s hand, out of the periphery of his vision he saw the previously rebuffed hilichurls rush back towards them with a vengeance, the ignited flame of their torch swinging wildly in the air. Thoma dropped his hand and quickly took a step forward to block Ayato from the enemy’s line of sight while simultaneously summoning his spear.
“Stand back!” he shouted, while kicking the spear forward and enabling his shield. After a few well-placed jabs that effectively eliminated the threat, Thoma wiped the sweat from his forehead with a sigh of relief.
He turned around, expecting his lord to be up but Ayato was still on the ground. Both hands were braced onto the ground, as if he was about to push himself to his feet but instead seemed to be frozen in the pose with his mouth slightly opened. Thoma tilted his head in confusion. Ayato let out a delicate cough into his fist before pushing himself to his feet.
"My, Thoma, that was as impressive as ever," the commissioner said, as he quickly jogging to the man's side. Thoma's smile grew wide at the compliment. "You seem to be in good condition and in high spirits."
The smile quickly snapped off his face as the last sentence set off Thoma's brain. His right eyebrow began to twitch.
"Are you alright?" Ayato asked.
"I'm dandy!" Thoma said with his normally peppy tone but his face was absolutely blank. Ayato gulped. "But you on the other hand? How are you standing when last night was probably the first time you've slept for more than three hours in weeks?"
Based on the grimace on Ayato's face, Thoma's guess had been spot on. “Honestly! I can't believe you! It's when you do things like this that make the clan elders and your sister worry about you! I worry about you! The grandmas and grandpas keep twittering on about how you're never going to be in a relationship and be a good husband if you keep this up. And they're absolutely right! Sure you may lead the life of an untethered bachelor now but when you find someone you care about, you will have to pay attention to your health and condition for their sake, if not for yours!"
The grimace on Ayato's face had grown to a much darker expression during his rant. This snapped Thoma's sense of propriety back into him. He immediately paled once he realised his wrong before flushing even deeper and started apologising. "Oh geez, I didn't mean to snap at you. I know you care about your work but this festival is only temporary and your health sure isn't and I guess I was just frustrated that you didn't care. I know it's my duty to look after you but that was so rude of me! I'm so sorry, if you could find it in your heart to overlook this one's insolence, I-"
Thoma started to crouch down to kneel in the midst of his ramble and beg for forgiveness. It was something he had never done before in front of Ayato but he had never been this out of line with the clan head.
"Don't."
Thoma looked at Ayato from his half knelt position. From his new angle, he could see that what he previously thought was displeasure directed towards him was much more complicated from the rigid slight downward turn of Ayato's lips and the faintly disconnected look in his eyes, indicating that he was contemplating something in a troubled manner.
Thoma slowly pushed himself upright, slightly confused. After an awkward second of tense silence, the commissioner let out a long sigh, resoundingly arriving at some sort of conclusion after a fervent discussion within his own mind, and nodded seemingly to himself. "You're absolutely right. I apologize for worrying you…and everyone else."
Thoma breathed a sigh of relief. "And I apologize for telling you off like that. I really don't know what came over me."
"No, it is my fault. I did not know you felt that way. I admit that my schedule was unsustainable to say the least and I should have known you would worry." Ayato punctuated the last statement by taking Thoma's left hand in both of his own with a softly remorseful look in his eyes.
"M-my lord!" Thoma stammered while quickly retracting his hand away from Ayato's gentle but completely unexpected hold.
The official's hands were frozen in place, now holding onto nothing but air.
"Oh." He paused for a moment. "Didn't I tell you last night? Isn't that why you were on your way to meet me?"
"Tell me? All you told me was to meet you on Amakame Island while falling asleep every other word."
The commissioner's hands unfroze from their ghost hold to pinch his brow while he made an uncharacteristically blatant grimace.
"My my, it seems I've made another blunder…Your outburst makes far more sense now," Ayato murmured. He sighed. "Yet another reason to maintain a more consistent sleep schedule."
"What did you mean to tell me, my lord?"
Ayato's eyes flickered momentarily to the hand Thoma previously held. "It does not matter. But for today, please refer to me only as Ayato. It would not make sense for me to be your superior on your day off."
A day off! What a pleasant surprise that was completely sprung on Thoma. "A day off? This is fantastic news my l- Ayato! I was under the impression that you asked for me to meet you at the festival to help."
"I completely bungled this, didn't I?" Ayato mumbled to himself. "Nevermind," he said louder, "Let us enjoy this much needed break. Thoma, would you be so kind as to join me?"
The commissioner looked at Thoma hopefully. He had his signature pleasantly neutral composure but from his years of close proximity to Ayato, Thoma could tell that underneath the look, there lay a thin layer of uncharacteristic doubt he had not seen in years muddled with equally uncharacteristic hope.
Even if he wanted to, he was never great at saying no to Ayato.
"Of course," answered Thoma with his signature grin.
"Er, my l- Ayato, don't you think this is a bit too much?" Thoma asked from behind the curtain.
"Nonsense. I’ve already decided on my choice, it’s only natural that you should also try on something. Now come out if you're ready."
The slide of the fabric partition revealed a slightly embarrassed Thoma.
"My, my, I think the red haori pairs nicely with the grey kimono you picked out, Commissioner!" Mio fawned.
"I'm inclined to agree. Hm,” he mused for a moment, hand on his chin and covering the bottom of his face. “Exquisite.”
"Do you see how perfectly the leaves on the bottom of the sleeves pair with Thoma's eyes?"
"Mm, yes quite so. It was one of the things that drew me to this particular choice. I was enamoured with how the soft fade of the print from the sleeves makes the design not so bold as to draw attention from the subject himself," Ayato mused while thumbing the sleeve of Thoma's haori briefly.
"Absolutely brilliant, Commissioner. I-"
A short cough from Thoma interrupted the discussion. Thoma's ears were bright red and he fiddled with the hem of his haori as he said, "This is a very lovely set and all but don't you think it's a bit too much?"
"As per Mio and I's earlier discussion, we both agree that it is suitably colourful without being garish."
"No, I meant in general! All of this," Thoma gestured to his outfit and the Ogura Kimonos tent, "Just for the day? It seems a bit much and I haven't even worn a kimono since I was like what, sixteen? Although, the quality of the fabric does make it quite comfortable… Perhaps we could just rent it? Oh! And I could probably get a good price too."
"If I may interject, Thoma, it's a festival! Even the foreigners are dressed in traditional Inazuman wear!" Mio said, gesturing to Robert from the Outlander Affairs Agency leaning against the Yakisoba stall across from them in a blue striped kimono. "And, if you purchase it today, you'll have the opportunity to wear it for other festivals or special occasions in the future! I suspect we will be having more and more those in this new age."
Thoma let out a sigh, resigned and already submitted to his defeat in the face of a compelling argument. "Mio, you sure are a great ally of the Yashiro Commission but you and I both know you're here to run a business," he gently teased, rummaging through the pockets of his folded jacket for his mora pouch.
With mora in hand, Thoma turned around, already mentally calculating how often he would need to eat lunch at the estate for the upcoming months to cover the purchase, when Ayato handedly placed a sizable amount of mora into Mio's hand.
“Thank you for your continued patronage, Commissioner,” Mio said, while presenting Ayato with a quickly drafted receipt. In exchange, Ayato nodded politely, making his way to the vendor-lined street. "Come along now, Thoma. Are you in the mood for dango? I'm ready for a snack."
“Bu- uh- wait? Wh-”
“Mio, please have Thoma’s previous garments sent to the Kamisato Estate. The amount I gave you should cover it.”
“Understood, and I wish you both a lovely Festival of Love and Romance!”
“Thank you Mio!” Thoma replied out of pure habit despite the confusing circumstances before noticing Ayato was completely out of sight and leaving the tent quickly to go find him on the busy street outside.
Thoma quickly found him frowning at the map in his hands a couple steps away from Ogura Textiles. The man twisted his head left and right a couple times while frowning. “We’re right here,” Thoma said, while leaning over top of the map from the other side and pointing to a plain numbered square with an upside down number. “The dango stall should be right around here,” he directed, moving his finger about two rows back.
Then, they both looked up at each other at the same time. Immediately, Thoma flushed from their surprising proximity, their faces no more than the length of a stick of incense away from each other, but neither made any move to create more distance.
Most surprising of all was Ayato’s reaction. Thoma expected to be met with either the commissioner's usual vaguely pleasant but blank look or at most with a smirk like this morning, but instead the highs of cheeks were coloured slightly and his mouth was slightly open. Whether it was because he had somehow taken the usually unflappable man by surprise or something else entirely different, Thoma found it hard to care why when the sight itself was so entrancing.
“Also, don’t think I’m letting you get away with buying me a whole set without explaining yourself later,” Thoma blurted out, unintentionally breaking the entrancing tension before he got sucked in too deeply.
His remark seemed to have snapped Ayato out of his reverie too when he let out a chuckle, stifled by the back of his hand. "Of course Thoma. I wouldn't dream of it."
"It's really not like you to make such lavish purchases on a whim," Thoma supplemented with a frown while straightening his posture.
With a quirk of his mouth, the other acquiesced. "I'll explain myself sometime later, I promise. But for now, let's enjoy ourselves and have some dango," he said with his signature disarming aura coupled with a pleasant eye smile. This was as close as Ayato ever got to begging Thoma to drop a topic.
Thoma really needed to fix his habit of letting Ayato get away with things he needed to answer for but he was making a good show of being sincere. With a put upon deepening of his previous frown, Thoma chided playfully, "You better, mister. In the meantime, you've promised me a snack so lead the way!"
Ayato chuckled, happy with Thoma's willingness to go along with his whim and mood. Playfully placing both hands on his shoulders and spinning him around to face the right direction, Ayato then gently pushed Thoma along while the other laughed.
Their little charade only lasted for a couple steps before they naturally fell in step with each other side by side, their shoulders lightly brushing. In only a couple moments, they spotted their destination, the green, white, pink sign on the side of the stall lighting the way. Thoma lit up in excitement and ran the last leg, motioning and waving at Ayato to walk faster when he arrived before him. Ayato made no move to speed up and Thoma gently checked his shoulder when he met him where he was lining up.
It was quite a sizable queue and so Ayato was quickly shooed away to find a bench. Feeling not unlike some useless husband sent along to do some busy work to get out of the way, he sat on his newly claimed bench feeling a bit lost with nothing to do as he passively people watched. Sooner than expected, Thoma found him while happily brandishing his spoils.
"I thought we might like to get something more substantial later so I got something to share. Here!" Thoma said while passing over a stick of tricoloured dango with a large cup of bubble tea. "I even managed to haggle down the price so we'll be able to splurge more for dinner."
“Share…” the other mused while taking a bite of the topmost rice ball and chewed while savouring the flavour. While enjoying its faint floral sugariness, his hands automatically pushed the skewer into Thoma's hands. Thoma pulled at the middle with his teeth to free the dango. At this display, Ayato suddenly stopped chewing to stare. The retainer let out a happy hum once he pulled off the dango before he noticed Ayato's stillness.
"Uh, is there something wrong?"
The commissioner's eyes flicked quickly from where they were previously around his face and eventually to Thoma's eyes.
"I never knew you had freckles."
Although it was clearly a diversion, the topic caught Thoma off guard enough he didn't know how to parry. "Forgive me, I had never noticed," Ayato supplemented with a softer tone.
"Oh, uh…I do! Yeah, they get darker when it starts to get sunnier."
At the information, Ayato did nothing more than give a hum, his eyes not leaving Thoma's face. Thoma wasn't sure what to do but it did not feel right to break eye contact so he just looked back.
"Oh my, look at what we have here," a familiar drawl sounded, breaking the exchange of eye contact. Although his back was to her, at the mere presence of the priestess, Thoma bristled. Ayato reluctantly tore his gaze away to address their invited guest.
"Guuji Yae. Delighted to see you."
"Oh please, Yashiro son. I am not fulfilling my spiritual duties today so simply Lady Yae will do."
"Lady Yae. What a pleasure," Thoma said robotically while turning around.
"The pleasure is all mine to run into such familiar faces. Especially my fellow patron of romance and his…esteemed guest." At this comment, even the unflappable Ayato stiffened unnaturally and narrowed his eyes nearly imperseveably at the off-duty yokai. She regarded him with a similar expression.
"Miko, are you speaking with someone?" a calm fourth voice gently interrupted.
"Yes, but do not mind me. You should go along and find some snacks"
"Nonsense, I mustn't be rude to your friends. Also, the kind gentleman gave me eight sticks of dango."
"Almighty Shogun! I, uh, am pleased to make your acquaintance!" Thoma stuttered loudly while snapping straight to attention. Even after several months after the Shogun started mingling amongst the citizenry, Thoma had never gotten used to seeing her casually roaming the streets of Inazuma. And then there was that whole uncomfortable ordeal of her taking away his vision. He then gave an extremely stiff ninety degree bow.
She gave a shallow nod of her head in return. "You must be the Yashiro Commission's Thoma. Pleased to make your acquaintance. I hear much of your deeds in my summaries from the Yashiro Commission. Commissioner Kamisato, we meet again," she nodded to the other, who gave a respectful bow in return.
"Wait, eight? You can't be serious, Ei. Do you even have enough mora for that much dango?"
"Oh, payment, right…I believe I was not even offered the opportunity to exchange mora," she frowned at the realisation. Lady Yae grimaced like she was in excruciating pain.
"Normally, I'd love such a deal but you do really have to go back. We just got done with the Fatui mess, so imagine what additional damage this could do to your reputation in the wrong hands." She sighed dramatically and shook her head. "I'm terribly sorry to cut the conversation short but we must attend to this matter. Excuse us," she said while tugging the Almighty Shogun away. The archon gave a short head dip in their direction while slightly jogging to keep up with her companion.
Thoma couldn't help but watch the Shogun and the fox walking together.
"They sure do have an interesting dynamic, don't they Thoma? …Thoma?"
Thoma snapped back to attention. "I'm sorry, what were you saying?"
Ayato shook his head. "Nevermind. Are you finished?"
The two of them made quick work of what was unfinished and soon began a leisurely stroll.
After some comfortable silence, Ayato asked, “So, what shall we do next?”
“Hmm, do you want to play some of those carnival games?”
“If you would like to, I would have no opposition.”
“Come on, what's with the stiff language? I thought we had the day off today. Of course I do!” Thoma said with a pat on Ayato’s shoulder.
Ayato looked at the hand on his shoulder oddly for a moment before nodding. “Old habits die hard. Let's go then,” he said punctuating it with an easygoing smile.