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Kise rolled out of the way from a robotic swing of a sword. The blade smashed into the wooden floorboards and carved several inches of wood from the surface. The helmet clanged hollowly as it snapped toward Kise’s form.
The Triton gave the hollow suit a cocky smirk. With an extended hand, he merely tapped the dented steel in front of him. Dancing red magic flared from his fingertips as it made contact with the hollow suit of armor. The metal rattled for a moment before the cool steel transitioned to a hot maroon. Kise watched with satisfaction as the metal moaned and creaked as it melted, bent, and collapsed to the floor in a pile of goo.
Kise couldn’t help but let out a huff of victory with a flip of his hair.
“Quit gloating and help me already!” Kasamatsu yelled over his shoulder. The Dragonborn's head whipped back to the two suits he was fighting and let out a growl laced with a cone of freezing breath. One suit stopped in its tracks - joints freezing with a creak. It tried to swing its flail at Kasamatsu’s head, but the paladin evaded easily. The other powered through the frost and advanced on him. They didn’t strike yet - the thing just waiting for something to come to it, spear in hand and ready.
Yeah right, Kasamatsu wasn’t dumb enough to fall for that one.
“I gotcha, Captain!” Kise winked as he rushed past Kasamatsu. In his hands, his staff glowed an earthy orange as he went in for an attack.
“Kise, wait!” the paladin tried to warn. But it was too late.
The perfect moment to strike came and the suit of armor thrusted forward. The druid only had time to yelp and shift his hands to a defensive position before the spear collided. Kise cried out in pain as a splash of blood scattered to the wind. The staff was nearly knocked out of his hand, but Kise’s grip was stronger.
A fire lit in the Triton’s eyes as the staff glowed brighter. He grits his teeth and white-knuckled the magical weapon. Swiping the staff, Kise raised the weapon with effort, as if pulling something upwards. The higher the staff raised the more ground beneath the armor cracked. It split in half. It crumbled.
Then it exploded.
Kasamatsu watched with awe as Kise roared and the earth underneath the suit erupted in rock and splashes of lava. The animated suit of armor didn’t stand a chance. It too exploded into pieces as debris rained from the air. A testament to the blast, the Dragonborn saw sharp shrapnel pierce clear through the metal and reduce it to scrap.
With a huff, Kise twirled his staff a bit and sneered at the lifeless scattering of metal.
Kasamatsu was left to just stare. His mouth was dry as he watched the Triton huff and catch his breath. His first thought was how terrifying the druid truly was. That explosion wasn’t contained to just the armor. It was at least twenty square feet of carnage and splattering of hardening lava. However, Kise was skilled enough to position the radius so it didn’t hit either of them - shrapnel and all. It was an impressive and powerful spell that could’ve gone terribly wrong with a person less capable.
Kasamatsu’s second thought was vocalized. “Gods, Kise, don’t pose.”
That seemed to jumpstart the Triton. Kise whipped around back to the Dragonborn with genuine concern all over his features. “Captain! Are you alright?! Are you hurt? I swear if any of those things hurt you -”
Kise rushed toward him - Kasamatsu was sure he was coming in for a cuddle and kiss - but the paladin held out an arm. “I’m fine. I should be the one asking you all that, dumbass.” The flash of a memory of blood was still fresh in his mind.
“Oh, I’m fine, Captain! Totally okay!” he squeaked, as he not-so-nonchalantly hid one of his hands behind his back.
“Kise…”
“Hm?”
Wordlessly and with his upper lip curling in, Kasamatsu held out his hand - demanding to see the damage. Kise slumped with an easy defeat. He held out his hand to the paladin and Kasamatsu was shocked to see his palm covered in blood.
“Kise!” the Dragonborn scolded as he gingerly cradled his hand. The blood waterfalled between his own fingers but it didn’t matter - he had a wound to close.
The Triton had a pout on his lips but it soon dissipated as Kasamatsu’s hand glowed in healing magic. Kasamatsu couldn’t read the expression, but it soon then morphed into an irritatingly casual smile.
“Ooooh, Captain! You’re holding my hand! How romantic!”
“Kise, you’ve been stabbed,” Kasamatsu grumbled, not playing into his boyfriend’s teasing. He focused on the task at hand - healing him. The faint glow from his palm was warm against Kise’s skin. Blood continued to seep from the gash, but the paladin knew it would cease after a few more moments.
Kasamatsu’s brow was creased with concentration as he willed the wound closed, but he made the mistake of looking up.
Kise’s eyes practically twinkled as the smile didn’t falter from his features. The Dragonborn was about to roll his eyes and ignore him, but the sparkle wasn’t condescending or malicious. It was full of wonder and love. Something Kasamatsu wasn’t expecting when healing a patient.
“What?” he asked. He meant for his tone to come off as annoyed but his voice was oddly soft.
Kise shrugged and finally had the decency to look away. “Sorry! It’s nothing.”
“Can’t be nothing when you’re looking so intently. What is it?”
Kasamatsu wanted to claim to know the Triton well. He wanted to claim that ever since they started dating they knew each other even better. But there were secrets that Kise kept close to the chest. Kasamatsu as well. It was a shot in the dark if his boyfriend was actually going to share his thoughts, but the Dragonborn had to try.
Kasamatsu would always try for Kise.
“It’s just…” the Triton started, head bowed low. Like a shock, a smile was plastered onto his face and he waved his free hand around aimlessly. “Wow! God-given magic is so interesting! I’ve never really gotten the chance to see it up close, you know?”
The paladin didn’t resist rolling his eyes. “Try again, Kise.” He wasn’t going to pry, but this wasn’t prying. That was just a pathetic attempt to change the subject.
With a guilty squeak, he sighed, “Ugh, Captain, how do you know me so well?”
“You’re just naively predictable. Now stop stalling. What’s on your mind - if you want to talk about it that is.”
Kise bit his lip. His gaze went back down to the healing gash. Did he want to talk about it? It wasn’t like it was world-shattering or anything. It was actually rather embarrassing. Does he want to embarrass himself today? Right after he was just a badass in that fight?! Ugh. He really doesn’t want to.
But for Kasamatsu, he was willing to do a lot of things.
A sigh left his lips and his spine deflated along with his perfect posture. His hand was just about healed but Kise kept golden eyes on the wound. He noted how the blood around the gash was also evaporating. Huh. That was interesting. Ugh! No! Focus!
“It-it’s dumb and silly. It’s really not that big of a deal. It’s how things were back in Teiko. It was totally normal but it’s just that… no one’s ever really cared for me like this. Tending my wounds, I mean. We were a group of fighters, ya know? First aid just wasn’t a thing. So this… I didn’t really get this. It’s nice. This is nice. Well, not as nice as this.” To punctuate his last point, he placed a kiss right between Kasamatsu’s horns with an audible mmwah!
Normally, that would send the Dragonborn into a stuttering, blushing mess. But he wouldn’t be distracted this time. Well, his face was still blushing but Kasamatsu was seething under that adorable blush. On the other hand, Kise only had a melancholy smile and self-pity in his eyes.
It made Kasamatsu’s blood boil further.
No one cared for Kise in the past? No one cared?! Kasamatsu felt a vein in his forehead pulse. The paladin wanted to march to the old halls of the Teiko guild, scream, and shame everyone who dared show pride under their flag. Thinking back to the members of the old disbanded guild, there were no explicit healers in the main members. It wasn’t hard to understand that this would be one of the rare and few times Kise had been healed - but know this wasn’t the first time Kise had done something dumb and Kasamatsu had to heal him. But it was still an infuriating thought that this was a rare time that Kise felt cared for.
“Captain?” Kise whispered.
The paladin was so lost in thought that he didn’t realize the gash on his palm was already closed. He really was just holding Kise’s hand at this point.
His brows creased and he held Kise’s blue-skinned hand tighter. Without really thinking, he raised the palm and pressed a kiss to the center - like he was sealing the wound.
With a different twinkle in his eye, Kise gasped, “Kasa-”
“I will always heal you,” the Dragonborn determinedly interrupted, “I will always care for you. You can be all in awe of my magic or whatever, but it will never be silly and definitely not dumb for you to know, and never doubt, that I will be here for you. Especially when you pull off some crazy and impressive magic like that.”
Kasamatsu will say it was the light seeping in from the cracks of the leaves. He might even blame the reflection of the sun getting into Kise’s eye. Any of those reasons had to be why the Triton’s eyes were watering. Not his words, definitely not. Kasamatsu didn’t want to be the reason Kise was currently crying his beautiful eyes out. It was definitely the shine of the sun. Definitely.
“Captain!” his boyfriend cried as he brought the Dragonborn into his arms for a hug. He was slightly trembling but at least he was smiling. Kise peppered his hair, forehead, and horns with kisses and squeezed the living daylight out of him. He whimpered as he gently swayed his shorter boyfriend - careful not to crush his wings.
The Dragonborn loosely wrapped his arms around the Triton as well, but the fire didn’t dwindle from his veins. He dug his claws in the back of Kise’s shirt, aware not to pierce it again, but muttered into his boyfriend’s shoulder. “If I see any of your old friends again, I’m gonna kick them. You better not hold me back.”
Kise giggled. “Nooo, Captain! They’re my friends.”
“Yeah, terrible friends who don’t know basic first aid! What kind of guild were you all running?!”