#nesushii

   Shuuichi is always happy to meet a fan, devoting more time to autographs and interviews than his publicist would like, but this is a special case. He’s acutely aware that the russet-haired boy before him now, half-hiding behind Natsume’s shoulder, isn’t just another movie enthusiast.

Because while Nishimura flushes and stammers and can’t seem to decide whether he should gape at Shuuichi or just stare at his own feet, Natsume watches his antics with a wide smile. This is someone Natsume is fond of, at the very least, and from what little Shuuichi knows about Natsume’s very lonely past, that makes Nishimura someone more than worthy of the VIP treatment.

They tour the set, meet a few of the other actors, peek into an empty wardrobe suite. It’s all just this side of mundane for Shuuichi, and it’s obvious to anyone with eyes that Natsume isn’t moved either, and Nyanko-sensei looks like he wouldn’t so much as bat an eye if the entire building was to go up in flames, but Nishimura more than makes up for their lack of enthusiasm. He’s bright-eyed and spilling a dozen questions and tugging Natsume into countless selfies as they go, and buoys the mood into something wonderful.

The afternoon is a pleasure, really. While getting Natsume to admit to anything more than “school was okay” is like pulling teeth, Nishimura is an eager conversationalist, and launches into charming anecdotes of countryside shenanigans with very little prompting on Shuuichi’s part.

In two hours, Shuuichi has learned Natsume’s favorite color, his least favorite food, the title of a book series he’s been binge-reading for the last two weeks, and the entire story of how he and Taki and Kitamoto all got stuck up the same tree. That’s more than he’s learned from Natsume in almost a year.

Perhaps most remarkably, Natsume doesn’t mind at all. He watches Nishimura the way Shuuichi has seen people watch their favorite part of their favorite movie, every now and then smiling in a faint, knee-jerk way that says he’s unaware his mouth moved at all.

Ah, Shuuichi thinks gleefully. So that’s it.

Nishimura has been a delight all afternoon, sunny and cheerful and energetic enough to make up for Natsume’s disinterest twice over, but as morning fades into afternoon something changes.

It’s a gradual shift, one that Shuuichi doesn’t notice right away. The boy’s smiles, so automatic before, seem to be a reach now. He’s a little slower to pick up conversation, eyes trailing narrowly away. If it were Natsume, Shuuichi would be certain there was a yokai problem afoot-- but when he cuts a quick glance at Hiiragi, paranoid despite himself, she shakes her head.

By the time they sit down for lunch, Nishimura is outright scowling.

“Let’s do something else for the rest of the day,” he says without warning, and Natsume blinks up from his meal, looking as bewildered by the non-sequitur as Shuuichi feels.

“What? You’ve been looking forward to this forever. I thought you’d beg Natori to let you live here.”

“C’mon, Natsume,” Nishimura wheedles. “There’s a whole city out there to see! Who knows when we’ll be back here again?”

It looks like a familiar exchange, Natsume longsuffering and Nishimura petulant. Shuuichi thinks he’s getting a good idea of what their usual dynamics are like, when Natsume is the first to give in with good grace, and Nishimura smiles like they both knew it was only a matter of time before he did.

“Well,” Natsume finally says, “Natori is our host, so it’s up to him.”

If he was expecting Shuuichi to shut Nishimura down, he should have known better.

“I’d be happy to get away from work, actually,” Shuuichi says with a winning smile. If something back at the studio is the reason behind Nishimura’s soured mood, then Shuuichi is more than willing to play hooky for the day. It’s not as though they could fire him. “Consider me at your service this afternoon.”

And so the day is spent lost in the city. Natori is only here for a few weeks, shooting a few scenes on location at the picturesque riverfront, so he’s not a very helpful guide. But he’s happy to pay transit fare and foot the bill for whatever souvenirs catch the boys’ eyes and stop for enough snacks that dinner is effectively ruined, and it seems to do the trick. Natsume and Nishimura are arguing and laughing and trying to push each other off the sidewalk within an hour, and the atmosphere lightens again by spades.

Shuuichi plays the role of cheerful chaperone and largely keeps them from wandering into traffic. Otherwise he’s a hands-off babysitter, letting them roam to their hearts’ content.

He thinks it’s obvious from the way Natsume’s eyes linger-- the softness of his mouth when he smiles at all of Nishimura’s chatter, the way he’ll forget himself and get noisy and silly as though Nishimura’s presence alone is a buffer against everything that taught him to be still and quiet-- that there’s definitely some level of infatuation here.

Whether or not Natsume is aware of it is another matter entirely.

Whether or not Nishimura is aware of it is also a mystery. He’s quick to catch Natsume’s hand or throw an arm around his shoulders or push the long fringe out of Natsume’s eyes when the February wind tosses their hair, but he also seems to be a tactile kid in general, so that might not mean anything at all.

It’s none of Shuuichi’s business, but love stories certainly are; he makes a living off them, after all. He can’t help being interested, though he knows better than to meddle. Natsume wouldn’t thank him for it-- would probably have a few very strong words for him, at that-- so Shuuichi stomps down the protective edge his thoughts start to take. It’s really not his place.

From what he’s seen of Nishimura, he’s a good kid. His taste in movies is certainly top tier. And Natsume is a very good judge of character. That’s enough for now, Shuuichi decides, and buys the boys enough matching keychains to share with all their friends back home.

A phone call from Shuuichi’s harried assistant is finally what brings them back to the studio. Apparently one of the filming locations was double-booked for a wedding this weekend, and the director is chewing over either rushing the scene or shooting it somewhere else. In his bad mood he noticed their leading actor missing, and Shuuichi’s assistant all but begs him to come back.

They pile out of the cab in front of the studio, Natsume beginning to flag after a busy day of new places and new faces and a lot of walking. His cat, bundled in his arms, has looked disgruntled since this morning, but that might just be his face.

“I’m sorry about this,” Shuuichi says ruefully as they make their way inside. “Please bear with me. I’ll sort this out as quickly as I can, and then give you free reign of the room service menu back at the hotel. Deal?”

His suite is more than big enough to accommodate two high schoolers for the weekend, as he assured Touko over the phone when they traded emergency numbers and contact information, with more than enough amenities to keep them busy. But it looks like their first night will see them too tired to do more than go straight to bed, and Shuuichi feels a little guilty about that.

“Oh, no,” Natsume says, eyes wide. “No, this is-- we’re the ones intruding, we know you’re busy. We shouldn’t have taken you away from work in the first place. Take your time.”

He gives Nishimura a nudge with his elbow that doesn’t look gentle, and Nishimura nods through a wince. “Yeah, absolutely. We’ll be good.”

But his sunny mood is disintegrating again. He’s visibly bristling, and keeps pace at Natsume’s side as though he’s standing guard. Shuuichi keeps an eye on him while the production staff argues with each other, and it’s because he’s watching so closely that he finally catches on.

The boys are in an out of the way corner of the studio, very obviously minding their own business, and someone Shuuichi doesn’t recognize-- one of the PAs, possibly-- cuts toward them. It’s too far away, and too loud besides, for Shuuichi to catch whatever is said.

But he sees it when Nishimura’s tremulous hold on his temper snaps. He surges out of his chair, eyes bright with anger, and Natsume only barely manages to curb the fight before it starts. He shoves Nyanko-sensei into his friend’s chest, and Nishimura’s arms curl around the cat on reflex, and now he has no hands free to pick a fight.

Shuuichi, however, is not given a fat cat as a deterrent, and has plenty of hands free.

He’s crossing the studio with swift, sharp strides, Hiiragi at his side. He realizes he’s furious-- disproportionately so-- and it must show. Natsume looks cowed as he approaches, and the PA fades away into the crowd.

“Sorry,” Natsume says quickly, “if we interrupted-- “

“Don’t say sorry,” Nishimura says right over him. He’s searching the crowd hungrily, as if the force of his glare might bring that woman back over. “You didn’t do anything.”

“Nishimura,” Natsume stresses, looking as though he’d like to sink into the floor, “it’s okay. She just-- I used to live with her family. She’s not-- you don’t even know what happened back then, you don’t know why she said-- “

“I don’t have to know,” Nishimura snaps. He pets Nyanko-sensei just for something to do with his hands. He looks ready to set the next person who looks at Natsume sideways on fire. “Anyone who treats you like that is picking a fight with me, so deal with it.”

And this is the boy who dragged them all over the city for hours, who coaxed and whined and teased until Natsume gave in and had a good time. He was so excited to get behind the scenes for this movie, he was ecstatic to meet Shuuichi and his co-stars, but it didn’t cost him anything to leave it all behind because one person in this busy studio was unkind to his friend.

His earnest eyes are narrow now, all trace of that idol worship placed somewhere far behind him, as he sizes Shuuichi up. Nyanko-sensei lifts up to bump his head on the underside of Nishimura’s chin, but his eyes are dark and intelligent, and they size Shuuichi up, too.

Beside him, Shuuichi is aware of Hiiragi lifting a hand to the lower half of her mask, as though she’s covering a smile.

Well, I know when I’m outdone, Shuuichi thinks.

A nearby security guard is looking particularly interested in their group, and Shuuichi waves him over with a smile. The middle-aged man saw most of the altercation, and would recognize the PA if he saw her again. Shuuichi makes a quiet request for the guard to get her information and collect her badge and escort her off the property.

With that taken care of, Shuuichi turns to the teenagers in his care. They’re both staring in surprise. He wonders what they expected of him, if not that. He certainly won’t tell Natsume he plans on blacklisting her name on as many upcoming projects as his influence will reach, but Nishimura would probably be delighted by the idea.

“That’s one way to end an evening,” he says with a great theatrical sigh. He puts a hand on each of their heads, feeling all twenty-four of his years, and his voice softens into something more serious. “I wish you would have told me something was wrong in the first place. I would have dealt with it then, and we wouldn’t have had to change our plans.”

He looks particularly hard at Natsume, and Natsume has the good grace to look ashamed. After all the deadly situations they’ve lived through together, surely the child can trust Shuuichi this much.

Nishimura presses Nyanko-sensei back into Natsume’s arms. His eyes are full of sunlight when he looks at Natsume, burning and affectionate and fierce.

“We still had a good time, didn’t we?” he says, as if that’s all that matters.

The Western-style hotel suite boasts two beds and a pull-out couch, but Natsume and Nishimura both clamber into the bed nearest the window without bothering to change. Nyanko-sensei stretches out across the foot of it while they talk in low, sleepy voices.

Shuuichi steps into the room, having wanted the phone call in which he had a PA fired to be a more private affair in the hall, and is just in time to watch Natsume press a kiss to Nishimura’s knuckles, as though to soothe a bruise that isn’t there from a fight that didn’t happen.

Ah, Shuuichi thinks. His instincts are getting rusty. That’s twice now that he’s been too slow on the uptake.

Natsume goes still when he notices Shuuichi in the doorway, like a rabbit sighted by a hawk, but Nishimura brightens. He holds Natsume’s hand harder when Natsume tries to let go.

“Natori! You promised us room service, right?”

Shuuichi feels something tight in the pit of his chest relent, and he smiles despite himself. The smile melts the anxiety out of Natsume’s tense shoulders.