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Cicadas loudly chirped and the sun's rays were relentless with blinding light and heat so hot that Mizuki instantly felt regret for daring to step foot outside, especially in his bulky clothing. He was used to heat well enough, it was necessary to push through unbearable heat for the sake of missions sometimes, but that didn't mean he had to like it.
Even with his usual accessories and excess clothing stripped off to reduce suffering, it wasn't like Mizuki could or wanted to run around naked. The shirt and pants he always wore were black, to make matters worse, so they just drank in the sun's hot rays.
Finally being able to step inside after a long day outside was a relief. Mizuki was so drenched in sweat that he was surprised he wasn't actually drowning in a puddle of it. He considered just how embarrassing it would be to die of one's own sweat.
Seriously though, he was about ready to pass out. His body was trembling, a result of him pushing himself too far in the heat. Hell, when was the last time he hydrated? He was so dizzy.
Mizuki stumbled his way into Gibraltar's kitchen. The fact that he hadn't fallen from how shakey and disoriented he felt was honestly a miracle. The spirits were feeling awfully merciful today. They'd apparently decided him being outside in the heat long enough to feel like he'd been dipped in lava was torment enough for one day. It wasn't much of a mercy, but Mizuki would take it. Better luck than he usually did. As previously established, if they were as cruel to him as they usually were, he absolutely would've passed out on the way to the kitchen.
"Woah, you good?" Kiriko asked, her attention snapping to him. She was standing next to Wuyang and Lúcio, presumably having been in a middle of a conversation with them before Mizuki had stumbled in like a drunk zombie.
"Water," He huffed, face tinted red, hardly able to get the word out. His throat felt so dry. He was thankful he hadn't worn his mask like he usually did because he could barely breathe. He slipped his glove off now that he was no longer exposed to the filthy outdoors.
"I'll get it!" Wuyang swiftly offered, hurrying to fetch a glass of water for him, granting Mizuki the chance to sit down before the spirits could decide that now would be the perfect time to collapse.
The glass was set down for all of two seconds before Mizuki picked it up and chugged the whole thing. He wiped off the water still clinging to his lips with the back of his flesh arm, "Thank you, servant."
"S—Servant?!" Wuyang stammered as he refilled the glass, a light shade of pink dusting across his face.
Mizuki chuckled, "I'm just messing with you."
"...So... When did you last hydrate?" Wuyang asked him.
"Uh..." Mizuki thought about it for a moment before shrugging, "I dunno."
"You need to stay hydrated," Wuyang lectured him.
"I know. I was busy and I forgot. Until now."
"You want some fruit, Mizuki?" Kiriko asked, popping a strawberry into her mouth, "Anran just cut up some fruit for us just a few minutes ago."
Come to think of it, Mizuki couldn't remember when he last ate either, "Yeah, sure." He was extremely hungry, but didn't vocalize it, still clinging to his usual fake nonchalant persona, "What are my options?"
Lúcio answered for her, "Strawberries, kiwi, pineapple—"
Mizuki's face crinkled in disgust. He hated pineapple so much. Quite frankly, it freaked him out that a fruit could eat a person back. He didn't want the cursed fruit anywhere near him. "I will strangle you if you so much as even touch me with pineapple."
"Mizuki doesn't like pineapple, or so he says," Kiriko said.
"Fruit shouldn't be able to eat you back," Mizuki hissed before taking a big gulp of water. He felt less like he was dying, now that he was actually intaking water and was in an air conditioned building.
"Pineapple is so good though," Lúcio said, "It's one of my favorites." He popped a rather large chunk into his mouth, as if to prove his point.
"I like it too!" Wuyang piped up cheerfully, "It's sweet and a little tangy. Probably one of my favorites too!"
"Have you even tried pineapple?" Kiriko's eyes narrowed at Mizuki, "You're fine with a lot of stuff similar to it."
Mizuki scoffed, "I'm not eating a fruit that eats me back."
"So what I'm hearing is you haven't even tried it," Lúcio said. So what if Mizuki hadn't? He was not going to have pineapple anywhere near him.
"It's not scary, I promise," Wuyang reassured him, setting a gentle hand on his shoulder, giving him a warm smile, "You should try some. You might find you actually like it."
Mizuki hated how he was feeling conflicted now, because of that stupid smile. Wuyang just had this infuriating way of being able to disarm him and melt into doing things he wouldn't otherwise do. Mizuki was half tempted to think Wuyang was tormenting him like this on purpose, as punishment, but he knew the water wielding man was far too sweet and innocent to even consider doing something like that for the sake of torturing him. He scoffed and turned his head, "I'm not eating pineapple."
"Can't you just try one bite?" Wuyang asked, brown eyes stupidly large and bright, "If you don't like it, that's okay, but it's good to try new things."
"Yeah, you really should try it," Kiriko agreed, "You could be missing out."
Mizuki sighed, momentarily feeling rage that Wuyang could make him bend so easily, before the rage faded because there was no way he could stay mad at someone so adorable, "Fine. But only one."
Lúcio brought the platter of sliced fruit to the table, setting down a big piece of pineapple in front of Mizuki. Mizuki almost glared at him, but knew he wasn't the one to blame for the fact that he'd found himself in a position where he was about to eat the one fruit he swore he'd never touch.
Eating fruit shouldn't be scary, but pineapple frightened him, simply on the basis that he heard it could eat people back. Even if it was just acidity related, it still spooked him. With his luck, he expected it to actually become alive somehow and eat all of his flesh. That was ridiculous, even he knew that, but he couldn't help the way he was always expecting the worst. His history of misfortune made it clear that he could never anticipate that things would go well for him at any point.
Mizuki glared at the chunk of pineapple like it was personally responsible for killing his whole family, his eyebrows fixing into an angry knitted together shape. He swore Lúcio picked a big piece on purpose, even though they were all pretty much uniform in terms of size and shape.
"You know, for someone so tough, I didn't take you for the type to be scared of pineapple of all things," Kiriko commented.
"Shut up," If Mizuki wasn't so focused on making sure the pineapple chunk wasn't sentient, he would've glared at her.
Wuyang picked up a chunk for himself, "Hey, remember, if anything happened there's medics around. I'm here, Lúcio's here, Mercy is around somewhere. There's nothing to worry about." He knew Mizuki's fears could sometimes be a bit abnormal or illogical. He'e found the best way of soothing those fears was to appeal to logic, specifically in regards of how things could be fixed if they did go wrong. He popped the piece of pineapple into his mouth calmly.
Mizuki hesistantly picked it up, as if expecting the piece of fruit would burn him, before quickly putting into his mouth to try and get the experience over with as fast as possible. Instantly his mouth was filled with tangy juice as he bit down on the horrifying fruit. A faint sweetness graced his tongue, mixing with the bite of slight tartness. He frowned as he swallowed.
It did not consume every last chunk of his flesh like he half expected, but it was not a pleasant experience either. He could be certain that he did not like pineapple, but it was not as bad as he expected either. He half expected it to taste like something poisonous or like cleaning chemicals. He couldn't be sure exactly why he thought that, other than the simple fact that pineapple existed freaked him out.
"So?" Kiriko inquired.
"Not a fan," Mizuki said calmly, now that he'd gotten it over with, "But not horrible."
"Wanna try another, just to be sure?"
"No," He answered quickly.
"You like mango?" Lúcio asked him.
"Yeah," Mizuki nodded, "I like mango."
"Let's share some mango then!" Wuyang chimed in excitedly, maybe a little too joyously because Mizuki caught the look that Kiriko and Lúcio shared.
"Oh shoot," Kiriko drawled, not caring to make her excuse particularly believable, as she grabbed a bowl and tossed a few handfuls of fruit into it, "I forgot I promised to grab Lifeweaver some fruit because he was busy. See ya." She then disappeared.
"Uhhh yeah, I'm busy too," Lúcio said, "I was gonna train with Anran and then show her my new track." He then took his exit as well, swiftly skating out of the room.
Wuyang didn't seem to pay any mind to the fact that everyone else left the room, "Guess we get all this mango to ourselves." He swiftly plucked a piece and put into his mouth, savoring the fruit.
Mizuki ate a few pieces himself, mostly so it wouldn't look suspicious that he was only staying here so he could look at Wuyang's delighted expression, "You really like mango, huh?"
"Yeah! It's my favorite! What's your favorite?"
"Watermelon, when they're nice and sweet that is. With my luck, I always find the bland or watery ones."
"Then I can help you! I'm like an expert at finding the good watermelons!" Wuyang proclaimed proudly.
Mizuki smiled, "You better pick out a good one for me, servant, or I'll be very disappointed."
"H-Huh?! Again?"
"What?"
"You called me servant again!"
Mizuki only offered a mischevious grin, "What about it?"
"Um—well..." Wuyang's face flushed again. He wasn't sure what to say to that.
Mizuki picked up a chunk of mango and brought it to Wuyang's mouth, "Well, if you aren't going to explain yourself, you may as well keep enjoying some fruit."
Wuyang opened his mouth to get a word in but Mizuki had pushed the piece of fruit into his mouth before he could say anything. Whatever Wuyang was going to say completely slipped his mind, "I can feed myself."
"I know, but I can feed you too."
Wuyang didn't argue with that. It felt weirdly intimate, but he didn't want to make it weird by pointing that little detail out. He felt his cheeks heat up, but let Mizuki continue to feed him chunks of mango until it was all gone.
Mizuki's fun was over far too quickly, "Aw, that was the last of the mango. Bummer."
A line of mango juice dribbled off Wuyang's lip and down his chin. Mizuki wiped it off with his finger, then he did something unexpected.
He licked it off.
"S-Sorry for eating all of it," Wuyang apologized, "I kinda just—"
Mizuki chuckled again, "Watching you eat it is far more fun than eating it myself."
"Huh?!"
"You make the cutest face when you have a piece of mango in your mouth."
Wuyang blushed, red coating his cheeks, "Now it just sounds like you're hitting on me."
"So what if I am?" Mizuki stared at him.
"I uh..." Wuyang hadn't expected him to be so blunt about it, "Cool! Thanks! Uh—I mean—"
"I've got you so flustered you don't know how to speak? Cute."
"Stop teasing me!"
"Nah, don't want to."
Wuyang blinked before sighing, "You're making this difficult for me."
"Making what difficult?"
"Confessing!" Wuyang slapped a hand over his mouth, ashamed he let it slip out in such a weird, awkward manner. He'd definitely need to ask Juno if she could get him a rocket to the moon, just so he wouldn't face Mizuki again after this embarrassing mishap.
"Oh cool, you're into it," Mizuki said calmly, a soft smile on his face, "So... you wanna kiss and makeout or something?" Mizuki was just as weird and awkward, just in a different font.
Wuyang gave him a dazed stare for a few moments before nodding. It felt like a fever dream, the moment Mizuki's lips were planted on his. Mizuki took charge, being as Wuyang's brain was too broken to catch up with what was happening. When it finally rebooted, he kissed back.
Wuyang tasted sweet, traces of mango flavor still on his lips. "Mango definitely tastes better this way," Mizuki whispered to him, before kissing him again, "Pineapple too."
Wuyang had expected his confession would've been more dramatic than this, but he didn't complain. He melted into Mizuki. This was nice, this was pleasant. He was happy.
To say Anran was surprised when she walked into the kitchen to find her younger brother occupied with shoving his tongue into Mizuki's mouth like he needed to consume him whole was the understatement of the century.