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Sethos did not like the forests of Sumeru. He preferred the deserts, they were where he thrived. But when Cyno invited him on a camping trip in the forest (with the Forest Rangers) he said yes. Not because he exactly wanted to go, but because he the extrovert in him screamed at him to go. So he said yes.
On the actual day, he regretted saying yes, because he just couldn’t be bothered. But he was too scared to cancel last minute, so he reluctantly finished some of his duties in the temple, packed his bags and left.
By the time he got there, he could see Cyno challenging some of the Forest Rangers to tcg. He prayed to the archons that he wouldn’t have to play it. Eventually, he decided it would be a better idea to go talk to Tighnari and Collei.
As he walked over to them, he was checking to see if there were any threats around. Whilst he was doing this, an almost recognisable dark haired figure rushed past him. He very quickly realised who it was,
“Hey Hat Guy! Wait up!” he began to run after him, though he wasn’t exactly sure if he’d be able to catch up to him. Sethos was a fast runner, though it was it was only because he had to use a bow and arrow, meaning he could only really fight at a distance nowadays.
His stamina did not last forever, because eventually, he became tired, falling to his knees, panting, under a tree whilst Hat Guy seemed to be trying not to laugh at him, which wasn’t going very well, “G-Give me a minute…” he mumbled, sweat dripping down his forehead, Hat Guy rolled his eyes, a small smirk adorning his features.
“This is an oddly long minute.” He teased, which made Sethos pout, before he began to climb up the tree (still out of breath.) Hat Guy’s smirk dropped into a frown as he saw him climbing up the tree, “You’re that desperate to talk to me?”
“So what if I am?” he heaved himself onto the branch he was on, and sat next to him. “You seem interesting.” a dumb smile arose on Sethos’s face as he wiped sweat off his brow.
“I don’t know what dream world you’re in, little bee, but I am not that interesting.”
Sethos tilted his head to the side, reaching out his hand towards his hat, “You’re not touching it.” he slapped his hand away, making him grit his teeth in surprise.
“Sorry.” he replied sadly, the pout returning,
“Don’t look at me like that.” he grumbled, which just made him pout even more. “Ugh, fine. Here.” he took off his hat, passing it to him, who’s eyes brightened, the smile came back as he traced his fingers over the intricate design of the hat, “Don’t break it.” he said in annoyance.
“Wasn’t planning on it, Hat Guy.”
“Stop calling me that!”
“Then what do you want me to call you?” Hat Guy- not Hat Guy, seemed to think for a moment,
“Wanderer works fine.” a smile tugged on his lips, though it was only for a second. A second that didn’t feel real to Sethos. Maybe it was because of how pretty that smile looked on his face, or maybe it was because he finally knew his name… It was definitely the first one.
“You’re very pretty.” He said to Wanderer, without thinking about what he was saying. He realised his mistake seconds too late “HAT. Pretty hat- Your hat is pretty!” that was a lie. Well, the hat was indeed pretty, but that wasn’t what he meant. Wanderer rolled his eyes,
“I know what you meant.” that pretty smile returned to his face, that made Sethos’s heart skip a beat.
“O-Oh. Okay.” the boy next to him chuckled,
“You don’t have to worry about it, I’m just gonna make fun of you until the day you die.” he gulped.
“Alright then…”
They sat there in silence what felt like ages, until someone called up,
“Are you two gonna sit there forever or are you going to actually help us?” they looked down to see a pissed off Tighnari. Nobody liked it when Tighnari was mad.
“Yes sir!” Sethos called, almost jumping off the branch (stupidly) before he felt the hat being ripped out of his hands and a harsh grip on his arm before feeling himself get yanked down, he yelped, before realising it was Wanderer. As they slowly descended, he looked up.
“Calm down, I wasn’t gonna let you fall.” he grumbled, rolling his eyes at him for like… the fifth time that day.
Once they landed, Wanderer harshly let go of his arm, beginning to follow Tighnari. Sethos rubbed his arm as it burned a little.
When they got to where they were setting up camp, he immediately got to work on building some of the tents, slowly remembering the steps from when he used to guide people around the deserts. After a couple of minutes, he’d built the whole thing, and moved on to help Cyno build his one, not that he was struggling, but he wanted to be helpful.
After ALL OF THAT, they had a fully finished camp. Everybody gathered around the fire, as it began to get dark. Cyno started to tell ‘ghost stories’ that turned out to just be puns in disguise. One of them was about a ghost made of cheese, he called it “boo cheese”. Tighnari looked like he wanted to slap him. Wanderer did slap him. Sethos admired the courage, he would never slap Cyno- that was probably because they were like family- never mind. He continued with the horrible jokes, to the point where Sethos just zoned out and fell asleep. Yes, they were that bad.
Dreaming. Dreaming was what he was doing, dreaming about… oh archons. Blue cheese. Blue cheese that was a ghost. That isn’t even funny. That is terrifying. Why… why is that even happening… why is this scaring him at all? Maybe it’s because it’s Cyno’s horrible jokes. No, it’s probably because the cheese ghost looks deformed. Yeah. Thats it.
“Wake up you dumbass.” a rough shake of his shoulders threw him out of that ghost-cheese filled dream- nightmare. He blinked a couple of times, before he realised who it was. Wanderer. Wanderer, who looked annoyed at him. “Took you long enough.” Sethos blinked, one eye at a time, “…Don’t do that again. That is weird.” he shrugged,
“Weird is my middle name.”
“Oh yeah, I can tell.” he shook his head, groaning a little, “Everyone’s asleep, by the way, we have to share a tent.” He couldn’t help it, but his heart fluttered a little at the thought of sharing a tent with Wanderer. Him, on the overhand, did not look so happy. He grabbed his arm again, which made the pain from earlier return, and dragged him towards the tent, opening it, dragging him and Sethos into it, before closing it again. He heard the tent next to theirs open, he heard two familiar voices.
“Did it work?” was that… Tighnari?
“Yes! We are the perfect matchmakers.” that was definitely Cyno.
“I hope Wanderer doesn’t murder him.”
“I’m sure he won’t.”
“I’m gonna kill you though, Cyno.” Wanderer grumbled from next to Sethos “It’s cold.” that made Sethos raised a brow,
“What do you want me to do about it?” Wanderer suddenly wrapped his arms around Sethos, pulling him down into a laying position next to him,
“If you tell anyone, even Nahida, about this, I WILL kill you. Understood?”
“Yup! More than understood.” it was silent for a couple of seconds.
“Good.” they then went to sleep, listening to Cyno and Tighnari’s conversation, it wasn’t exactly eavesdropping if they were talking too loud, right?