Archive of Our Own ^beta

Blood. There’s so much of it. Princess Asseylum’s and Orange’s. That’s right. He shot Orange right in the head. He saw him fell to the ground, and strangely he felt a twinge of regret for acting when he was clouded with rage. He ignored that and turned around to tell Count Saazbaum his proposal. What he didn’t expect is for Count Saazbaum to say: “You have to rise in the ranks by your own. I am already dead, remember? You killed me using the micrometeoroid shower.”

Slaine jolts awake with a gasp. Nightmares. It’s a rare occurance these days since Slaine was placed under Inaho’s custody. Inaho’s home makes him feel at ease even if he doesn’t want to admit it. There are pictures of Inaho and his sister, or him with his friends all around the place. This is what a home should look like, he thinks to himself when he first enters Inaho’s house, not the vacant cold space where he grew up. He’s shaken out of his thoughts when a warm glass of milk is pressed into his hands. He looks up to find Inaho’s burgundy eyes staring back at him. Inaho doesn’t press for details, just sits quietly beside him and starts typing away on his tablet.

“Why aren’t you asleep?” Slaine asked after he’s downed the glass of milk. “I have a meeting tomorrow regarding your updates. I need to get the information sorted out.” Slaine settles back onto his bed and mumbles: “Better go to sleep if you don’t want to doze off and embarrass yourself in front of your superiors tomorrow.” He can hear Inaho lets out a small huff and replies, amused: “I will. Goodnight, Slaine.” At that, Slaine lets himself fall back into slumber and this time he sleeps soundly till the morning.

In the morning, Inaho has already gone out as expected. His breakfast was waiting for him on the table and he finished it in a record ten minutes. Inaho’s cooking is still superb as always, not that he will admit that to another soul. When Inaho visited him at the prison, he noticed that Slaine had been showing signs of malnutrition and started preparing meals for him. Slaine has begrudgingly accepted Inaho as a friend after Inaho visited him and spent time with him in the prison for a year. They noticed that they were surprisingly similar in many aspects after they stopped tearing at each others’ throats. After Slaine was placed under Inaho’s custody, Inaho started pestering him to use the gym equipment in the house. After three months under his custody, Slaine has managed to get his physique back in a healthy state, in fact, it’s even better than before. On the other hand, Inaho seems to be having difficulty of taking care of himself.

To be honest, Slaine thought that Inaho would be the kind of person who prioritizes himself over everything. He’s calculating and deadly on the battlefield, a genius and a prodigy, surely he had no problem taking care and preserving himself in daily life. He is bewildered to find out that Inaho has a really, really low self preservation. When he first finds out about Inaho’s lack of self care, it’s through his sister.

After Slaine was put under Inaho’s custody for six months, Inaho deemed that it’s safe for him to meet his sister and close friends. Although they are hostile to him at first, their attitude slowly change once they get to know him. Yuki comes by the most, sometimes telling Inaho’s childhood stories, which Slaine gladly soaked up in. She told Slaine that Inaho took care of her since they were young and she feels like he was more of an elder brother than a young brother. Despite that, he has a hard time taking care of himself.

Once, he had a fever when Yuki had an important test that day. He forced himself to get up and prepare her breakfast as usual to prevent her from sensing anything amiss. Yuki nearly had a heart attack when she went home and find Inaho sprawled on the ground, his fever so high that he had to be hospitalized. When Slaine heard about this, to say that he was surprised is an understatement. Under Inaho’s calm and indifference facade, was his core soft and caring? To think that he would neglect his own health just because his sister had a test, this differs greatly from the person Slaine thought Inaho would be.   

The second time Slaine finds out that Inaho couldn’t care less about himself is through Rayet. Rayet is the first one among Inaho’s friends to build up friendship with him. They traded snarky remarks sometimes and those remarks often amused the others. When she found out that Slaine was a Terran living on Mars, she told him that she was the exact opposite. Somehow that information got into the hands of wrong people after the war. They ambushed her when she was on her way home. She was outnumbered and just when they were about to go in for the kill, Inaho appeared out of nowhere and help her fought them. His martial arts is good and they were holding their own even if it’s two against three. Gradually they managed to take down two of them. The last goon standing got out a knife suddenly and was about to stab Rayet. There was no time for her to react since she and Inaho were starting to get exhausted. However, Inaho somehow managed to get between her and the knife. He was stabbed in the abdomen and Rayet saw red. She took down the last goon and managed to get Inaho to the hospital on time.

When Inaho finally woke up after the surgery, Rayet berated him for being a fool and taking the knife meant for her. “Judging on the knife’s angle, if you were stabbed, it would be a fatal wound. But if I got in between, the goon would be surprised and the knife’s angle should be altered. That’s why I decided that’s the way for both of us to get out unharmed.” Rayet scowled: “Unharmed? You are lying on a hospital bed after four hours of surgery. I would not call that unharmed.” Inaho just counters calmly: “At least both of us didn’t die.” Slaine listened numbly and realized that Inaho’s low self preservation is a bigger trouble than he originally thought.

Dr. Yagarai is another visitor that frequented their house. Inaho asked him to be in charge of Slaine’s medical check up. Out of curiosity, Slaine blurted out: “Did Inaho get hurt a lot during the war?” Dr. Yagarai raised an eyebrow at him and he remembered that the closest Inaho has come to death was probably that head wound he inflicted. Guilt bubbled up and he tried to say something but Dr Yagarai simply said: “For a strategist like him, he can be quite reckless when it involves his own safety. You know that he removed his analytical engine after the war right?” Slaine nodded mutely, and Dr. Yagarai continues: “He had to remove it because it had seriously affected his health, I warned him not to overuse the analytical engine, but he still did it. Thanks to him, we won every battle, but it took a great toll on his body. I saw your scars Slaine, and I know that you don’t lead a easy life either. Maybe both of you can help each other out and you can get him to start care a little more about himself.” Slaine nodded with determination, “Okay, I will.”

Slaine is broken out of his thoughts when he realizes that Inaho came home. He looks at the clock and is surprised to find out that it’s just afternoon. Inaho never comes home this early, this cause an uneasiness in Slaine. After Inaho comes closer, Slaine realizes that he is sweating and his bangs are plastered to his forehead. His face also looks paler than usual. “Where are you hurting?” “It’s nothing.”Inaho mumbles, trying to dismiss it just like he dismissed his fever and stab wound. Slaine grabs his wrist and the fury in his eyes must have surprised Inaho as he says quietly: “My gastric flared up. I forgot to eat lunch.”Slaine resists the urge to scowl and asks: “And when have you gotten gastric?” “During the war. Sometimes I was too immersed in strategizing that I forego my meals.”

Slaine takes a deep breathe to ease the clench in his heart and suddenly he remembered his father once told him when he was little to not judge a book by its cover. He thought Inaho was a cruel and ruthless person when he shot him down at Tanegashima Island. He thought a strategist like Inaho would preserve himself instead of others. However, after spending time with him for almost two years, Slaine realized that Inaho is soft under his indifferent facade. Inaho is the one who offers comfort quietly when Slaine wakes up from a nightmare, even though Slaine knows that Inaho has a fair share of nightmares as well. Once, he accidentally fell asleep on Slaine’s shoulder and Slaine was startled by how young and vulnerable he looked. To other people, Inaho may be the Orange Devil, or the Earth’s Hero, but to Slaine, he is Inaho, a boy who cares but doesn’t know how to express himself.

Inaho was stunned into silence when Slaine pulled him into a bone crushing hug. “No more of this bullshit. The war is over. You have tons of people worrying their assess off for you. So you better take care of yourself from now on. If you don’t, I will.” Inaho returns the embrace and answered with a small smile: “I am looking forward to it.”