whispers of the wind

Mountains of paperwork loom over the large dark oak table, as the sound of rustling paper fills the small room.

The Tenryou Commission’s sharpest detective wasn’t even given a big enough room to properly walk around: cluttered with maps, files of evidence, books stacked up against the corners of the room; Shikanoin Heizou’s office was a sophisticated mess–or so he stated with a shrug and that annoying playful glint in his eyes. You were only given the opportunity to come to his place of work once in a blue moon, for legal reasons and personal ones–Heizou has always been clear about separating the lines between his working and personal life.

There were days where the case had run cold after staying in his office looking for more conclusive evidence, and the only thing he could imagine was going home to his dinky house on the outskirts of the busy Inazuma City with you curled in your shared bed. He could practically feel the warmth emitting from you already–curled in the thick duvet you practically begged him to get the last time you guys went out to the markets, despite it being summer.

Heizou’s mind is lost in the near future of laying in bed with you, his lithe fingers twitching to play with your hair as your body curls into his the way it always does, looking for him even when you’re unaware–the sound of his coworkers closing the doors to their office jolts him from his day dream. It’s well past closing, and with the dead case on his desk, Heizou can’t help but sigh. Despite the sly remarks he makes and the charming front he puts on face, he needs to go home, even the sharpest detective can’t keep investigating forever without sleep–without you in his arms. 

The man is quick to clean up his space, shoving papers into the appropriate folders and closing them, before blowing out the lanterns in his office and locking the doors. Perhaps he’s leaving a tad bit earlier than he usually does, but tonight his heart seems to jump at the thought of seeing you, it urges him to pick up the pace on his way home. There is truly no rush, a quick 10 minute walk will suffice, with lanterns warmly lighting up the cold street–but something calls for Heizou to pick up the pace, to hurry and see you. So he does, he picks up his pace and by the time he’s able to see the wood of your shared house, he breaks out into a light jog as the night cold bites against his exposed skin. 

The front of your house is decorated in vines that reach up to the roof’s slanted tiles, flowers from all over Inazuma are planted around the maroon brick, courtesy to your nagging and Heizou’s compliant nature for your eyes, and as he reaches the front door Heizou can hear his heart beating in his ears–he’s nervous.

There’s piles of evidence filed away in his brain with the common assumption that you’re in bed, asleep and awaiting his arrival. He knows you, knows exactly how your face will twitch when you hear him light the lantern in the bedroom, and he knows how your body will react to his weight dipping the bed to embrace you, yet his heart is racing.

To be the Tenryou Commission's sharpest detective also means to think about the worse case scenarios when given evidence, unbelievable situations that can be concluded with the right pieces of evidence placed in the right spaces–there is no true knowing of what will occur in a situation without being in the exact place and time where an incident occurs despite knowing everything that has happened. His hand reaches for the key hidden in a side pocket and he unlocks the door before slowly creeping it open. 

The man is greeted with the familiar sight of your home. The kitchen is seemingly clean, dishes stacked on top of each other near the sink–with your matching mugs placed on the counter for your soon shared morning tea–and on the dining table is your gifted stack of soon to read books with sticky notes tacked on all of the covers from Heizou’s trip to Yae’s Publishing House–the man can’t help but get you a gift everywhere he goes. 

When Heizou peers to the other side of the small house, he’s greeted by the sight of you; curled against the jade cushions of the couch with a knitted blanket. His footsteps are padded as he makes a quick effort to untie his shoes and discard them near the door after closing and locking it.

A noise of adoration leaves him in the sound of a playful huff, the corners of his eyes wrinkled as he takes full sight of you. Your head is leaned against the cushion comfortably with your hands still grasped around a book he’s left annotated for you. Heizou can tell by the cooled wax of the lantern nearby that you had been waiting for his arrival, and he can’t help but feel guilt pounding in his chest. 

His hands carefully pull the book away, making a note of the page you’re on before placing it on the coffee table–his eyes taking note of the scrunch your nose makes before your hands resettle. The man is slow to press a loving kiss against your forehead, before pressing kisses against your cheeks, his hands clenching and rubbing together, to ease the coldness of the night away, before finding yours. The slowest and most affectionate way he can choose to wake you up to calm his racing heart. Heizou can feel your hands stirring, and your face moving as he continues his actions with a small smile. 

When you finally open your eyes, and your hands softly grasp his, he can’t help but pull away and coo your name, softly mocking you in the endearing way that only Heizou could. In your half-awake state, Heizou can only rub soothing shaping onto your hands and continue to press kisses against your face as an unspoken apology, and when you nuzzle your face into his, he can’t help but laugh at himself for his previous assumptions. 

After minutes of comfortable silence shared between passed kisses, Heizou helps you up and slowly walks the two of you to your shared room. The bed is still unmade, pillows in a disarray and yet Heizou feels a fondness in his chest. He guides you to sit on the bed so he can change out of his uniform into something more comfortable and to fix the bed to your liking. Heizou can practically feel your hazy gaze against his back as he strips out of his shirt and he shakes his head, laughing silently to himself about how cute you’re being. Once he’s finished, he makes sure to eye you down, fix a blanket around you before pressing another kiss against your cheek and leaving with a hum about getting ready for bed–there’s no need for the scent or air of work on him to waft against your sacred space. 

When he finally enters the room again, he’s greeted by you flopped on your side , the blanket still wrapped around you and your tired expression–he can’t stifle the chuckle that leaves his throat at the sight of you. Heizou lets out another hum, an adoring smile pressed against his lips as he carefully sits you back up against, a flurry of pecks pressed against your hairline as he smoothes your hair away from your face, biting back a laugh at your whines.

He pulls away to quickly fluff your pillows and stack them like how you like them, and once he’s finished he unwraps you from your cocoon and pulls you against the mattress with him. The fluffing of your pillows unused as your body curls against him instantly and your head leans against his chest for comfort. He can hear the soft huff of approval that leaves your nose as you nuzzle your face into the junction between his chest and shoulder, and his arm around your waist only tightens. 

The uncontrollable beating of Heizou’s heart only starts to calm down as he feels your breathing start to slow against his skin, the warmth of you permeates against him and warms his bones. The press of your bare skin against his makes his fingers twitch, grabby–all he wants to do is hold you in his palms forever, to mold you into something so small he could carry you in his pocket and shelter you from the horrors the world holds. 

As if you could hear his loud thoughts, you let out a small sound and you begin to move on top of him, closing him in against the mattress with your weight. The warmth trapped between the heavy duvet, your body and the mattress encloses around Heizou to sooth his running mind. His arms wrap around your waist to pull you tighter against his chest, and he’s sure that you can feel how his heart beats for you.

Heizou presses his lips to the top of your head, his nose nestled against your hair to breathe you in as he feels his eyes get heavy–the exhaustion from his long work hours, the stress from coming home weighs his eyelids down–his fingers tap against your bare skin before giving one more gentle squeeze. You’re real, you’re safe and you’re with him. 

Heizou could come up with a multitude of possibilities of what you could be up to when a case has him trapped in his office and locked outside of your home, but he knows that after the sleepless and cold nights he’ll be able to unlock the door to the house and find you in his arms to warm him once more.