Chapter Text
Idia doesn't realize he's awake. The only thing he registers is that his body feels heavy. He couldn't move if he tried. But he won't try. If he moves right now he knows every part of him will start hurting. At the very least, he can scrunch his eyes tighter. The only solace in this moment, is this bed is really comfortable. Maybe spending extra time in it wasn't a bad idea.
He was prepared to settle back into a deep slumber, when he felt something move in his arms.
Was someone in his room?
No. Was someone in his bed??
Suddenly, Idia felt very awake. At the same time, he was afraid to open his eyes. Clearly he had been cuddling something in his sleep, but he's never had someone in his bed before.
Now that he had his wits about him, he could tell this was definitely a person. Oh seven. Did that mean Idia would have to talk to this person? Did he bring someone to his room? This made no sense.
Reluctantly, Idia slowly opens one eye. Scared of what he might see. But the second his eye locks onto the other person both of his eyes go wide.
Great.
So this was just a dream then.
Because Azul Ashengrotto would never willingly fall asleep in Idia's arms.
He waits for a moment. If he's realized this is a dream, surely he'll wake up soon. While he waits, he can at least enjoy this dream.
Seeing Azul's face look so peaceful was something Idia has never seen. It was easy to see without glasses obstructing his face. The other housewarden never let his guard down for a second, so Idia's surprised he could even dream about something he'd never come close to seeing.
Azul was wearing a white turtleneck. Idia supposes it didn't feel out of character for Azul, but he had never seen him wear one. Plus this one was kind of ill fitted, Azul normally wears clothes that suit his figure better.
This dream was producing a lot of strange imagery. The weirdest thing was what Azul was cuddling. Idia may have had his arms wrapped around Azul, but Azul had a death grip on some weird fuzzy pink thing.
Err. Even if this is a dream, Idia feels a bit weird about holding Azul while he's unconscious. Slowly Idia removes his arms from around the other.
He freezes when he hears shouting outside the door. It sounds far away, so luckily no one is shouting at him, but the noise does cause him to look in the direction of the door.
Suddenly, getting shouted out isn't a concern of Idia's anymore. As he looks around a room that is definitely not his room. It looks like an old fashion hotel room that you would assume is haunted. It wasn't even that big. It only seemed to have this twin bed, with it's giant green comforter, and handmade chairs by the door. There was a table lining the wall, but there there was literally nothing on it.
The room had green wallpaper, with golden accents lining the walls. However, it didn't look nice, it clearly had been here for a long time and had started peeling off. It also had oil lanterns lining the wall. It seemed like they were this rooms only light source. Did this room even get electricity? There didn't even seem to be a TV or phone.
He tries to look out the window to ground himself a bit, but it's so foggy out he can't see a thing through the glass. He couldn't even tell what time of day it was.
Idia had never been in a room like this before. Why would he dream about one like this?
…It had been a while since he had become lucid. Shouldn't he have actually woken up by now?
This couldn't be real. He remembers going to bed in his dorm the night before.
Carefully, he extracted himself from the bed. He wobbles a bit as his feet hit the floor. He steadies himself on the small wooden nightstand next to the bed where Azul's glasses are.
There really isn't much room to move. So all he can do is awkwardly stretch in place.
He sighs before pinching the side of his arm.
…
Nothing.
He pinches again, hard this time.
…Still nothing…
Okay, so if this is real then he has the right to freak out. He woke up in some unfamiliar building cuddling his club-mate.
Should he just leave and save himself from an insanely awkward conversation with Azul?
No. He couldn't do that to Azul. More importantly he doesn't want to exit the room into unknown danger.
Dealing with Azul sounded way better than dealing with a shouting stranger. Azul is one of the few people he's comfortable around after all.
So Idia decides he'll wait for Azul to wake up. Then, at the very least, Azul can explain to him what's going on.
In the meantime, he decides, he'll just play games on his phone to try and ground himself. He reaches instinctively to pat his pockets, but it feels like they're empty. He looks down to see if he missed them somehow.
…These aren't his pants.
Idia takes note of his own attire for the first time since waking up. He seems to be wearing a dark blue tank top and black cargo pants. He knows for a fact he doesn't have clothes like this in his wardrobe.
"What is this crap?" Idia blurts to himself.
Another sound follows. The sound of Azul stirring.
The otherhouse warden seems to go through the same motions as Idia. Struggling to move. Azul's face scrunches and he starts fidgeting, like he's uncomfortable.
Eventually, Azul slowly opens his eyes. He's clearly groggy as he scans the room, but his lack of reaction tells Idia he must still be too tired to process.
Then something changes. Azul abruptly becomes alert, eyes locking onto Idia with an emotion Idia can't quiet place. Maybe something between confused and angry.
Seven, please don't be angry. Idia was already stressed about enough.
"Idia…" Azul started slowly, "Where are we?"
"Was really hoping you could tell me."
Azul doesn't seem to like that answer as he quickly sits up. By doing so, he becomes aware of the fluffy object he had been gripping onto. He holds it away from himself to get a better look at it. Judging by the face he makes, Idia guessing he doesn't like what he see.
Azul turns it to face Idia. "What is this?" Now that Idia can see it properly, he can see it's really ugly. Most of it is a giant pink puff ball. There's an antenna shaped like a flower popping out of it's head. It appears to have bird feet. The face consists of chameleon eyes that flop around as Azul moves it. It's mouth was a poorly embroidered shark smile.
"Dunno, you were holding it when I woke up." Idia really hopes that Azul doesn't ask where he woke up.
Luckily for him, Azul seems less interested in interrogating Idia and more interested in getting his bearings.
Azul chucks the pink puff ball to the side and swings his legs out from the comforter and onto the floor.
It appears that the pants he's wearing fit him better, being a simple pair of black jeans.
Idia takes this opportunity to hand Azul his glasses and hears the other mutter out a thanks.
Now that he can see properly, Azul quickly starts looking around the room, "Where's my phone?"
"No idea, don't have mine either." Idia looks around the room again, but there aren't really any hiding spots in this room.
Azul starts frantically checking all his pockets and under all the sheets. Practically tearing the bed apart.
"Our phones are probably together right? So lets just find a phone to call one of them from." Idia tries to stay calm because Azul's aggressive searching is freaking him out.
"It's not just my phone Idia. I don't have my wallet or mage stone either."
"Crap." Idia starts patting down his pants again.
"You didn't consider that before? Honestly…"
"Hey. I'm not thrilled about this either, so you can drop the attitude."
Instead of responding, Azul moves past him in the direction of the door.
Reflexively, Idia grabs Azul's hand. "You can't go out there!"
"And why is that?" Azul looks irritated.
"I heard shouting out there."
Azul rolls his eyes, "Well. you're welcome to stay in here. I'm going to find our belongings."
He pauses abruptly when he reaches the door, looking at the floor.
"What's wrong?"
"Do we not have shoes either?"
Idia does a quick glance around, but it seems that Azul is right. There are no shoes in this room either.
He hears Azul sigh, before he briskly walks out of the room in his socks, leaving Idia alone. At first Idia is content to stay in here, but it only lasts a moment. Now that he's alone in the room, he realizes how unnerving it is.
He decides he'd rather stay close to Azul. He grabs the pink fuzzball, before chasing after Azul. The fuzzball may be ugly, but it was all the two of them had right now.
As he exits, he sees a long hotel hallway. The hallways are decorated like the room, same green wall paper and antique tables. The only major difference is the portraits decorating the walls. Idia doesn't recognize anyone in the photos, but the way all of their eyes seem to follow him is enough to get him hustling to Azul.
There's the faint sound of chatter in the direction Azul is heading, but he can't tell how many people it is.
Azul must have anticipated Idia joining him, because he doesn't seem surprised when Idia falls in step next to him.
"Why did you bring that?"
"It was all we had, maybe it's a clue?"
"A clue." Azul deadpans, "Or perhaps it's trash."
"Harsh."
"Forgive me if I don't care for the feelings of the plush toy I had after waking up in an unknown place without any of my belongings."
"What do you remember?"
"Falling asleep in my dorm as usual. And you?"
"Same."
"Oh wonderful."
The chatter gets louder as they approach the stairs. Now that they're closer Idia can tell it must be a small group of people. Thankfully it's not a lot of people, but it's still going to be a group of strangers Idia got zero time to prepare for.
They don't sound hostile. He hears the sound of laughter and silverware hitting dishes. It sounds so pleasant, Idia has to wonder what the shouting was about.
Azul doesn't even hesitate opening the doors, revealing a small stairwell. He quickly starts moving down the steps and Idia follows. Not wanting to become separated from his lifeline in the situation. Even if Azul is angry about his missing wallet, at least he's not angry at Idia.
Idia's definitely not going to mention he woke up cuddling Azul. He does not want to deal with the other warden's reaction.
At least Idia has the pink fuzzball to hang onto for comfort as they enter some kind of dining hall. The decor remains consistent, the only difference being this wallpaper is red. The room is an open space with around seven large tables filling the space. To the right of the stairwell is a large open bar.
At a quick glance, Idia can see a mother with two kids, a few couples, and two old men passed out at the bar.
There's a polite chatter, no one is being too loud, but no one is being quiet either.
A booming voice directs Idia's attention to the bar, "Ahh there you boys are! Hopin' you wouldn't leave before I could pay ya' properly!"
He shares a look with Azul, who appears just as confused. They look to the woman manning the bar. She's a larger woman, with bright frizzy red hair that's tied up in bun. She's wearing a sweater with a dirty apron on top. She had been washing a dish, but upon seeing Azul and Idia she dries her hands on the apron and moves towards them.
When Azul and Idia remained rooted in place, she motioned for them to come to the bar. Azul didn't move right away, but he did move first. Idia quickly fell into step behind him. He clutched the pink fuzzball tighter.
As they reach the bar the woman leans down under the counter and pops back up with a wad of thaumarks. She thumbed through the bills before smiling to herself.
"That should cover the work you boys did last night." She says, holding out the money.
Azul gives her a pleasant smile and quickly moves to grab the money. Idia rolls his eyes. Seriously? Even now all he can think about is money?
"Thank you very much," Azul pockets the money, Idia is pretty sure half of that is his, "By any chance did we leave any of our belongings down here last night?"
"Ahh right!" The woman's face lights up, "Glad ya said something or I would have forgotten! Wait right there, boys." She quickly walks into the backroom.
"Any idea what we did last night?" Idia whispers to Azul.
"Did I give off the impression that I knew more than you?"
"You were happy to take those thaumarks."
"Well apparently I provided a service, even if I can't remember it, I'd still like to be compensated."
"Fine, but half of that's mine…I think."
Their conversation is cut off by the back doors slamming open once again.
"Here's yer things, boys!" She proceeds to dump a ratty rucksack on the counter and drops two pairs of muddy boots over the side, letting them awkwardly fall onto the floor. It creates a loud clatter, but no one in the diner even reacts.
Idia looks at the items that have been brought for them. He's never seen them in his life, so they have to be Azul's right? But when he looks to the other warden it's clear these aren't his. He's looking at them with a touch of disdain. After a grimace, Azul flicks the bag open.
He begins looking through it and pulls out a ratty old burlap jacket. As he digs deeper, he seems more concerned. The woman must have caught on as well, because she speaks up again.
"Everything alright there?"
For a moment, it looks like Azul is about to lie. Idia can imagine why, Azul hates being in a vulnerable position. He would never let someone else know he's at a disadvantage. So Azul's next words are a great relief to Idia, because he didn't want to be the one doing the talking.
"Ma'am, these aren't ours." Azul gives a charming smile, but Idia can pick out the hints of distress hidden in his features.
The woman thinks for a moment, before putting her hands on her hips, "Ahh, sorry, boys. I think your friend might have taken your bag by accident when he left."
Friend?
Idia and Azul look to each other. They had been here with someone else? And this person ditched them?
"Hold on, was he not with you two?" She asks.
Before they can ask answer, the woman calls out to one of the men passed out at the bar, "Ehh, sheriff, we got a situation over here!"
The man sitting closest to them turns his head and slowly opens his eyes. He tries to prop himself onto his elbows, but it's a clumsy motion.
"Whassit?"
"These boys have a missing backpack. Someone ran off with it."
"Alright," He says finally sitting up, "What's it look like?"
The woman looks to them, like she wants them to explain, but neither of them know what this other backpack looks like. She gives them a concerned look back turning back to the sheriff.
"It's a big blue backpack with a little window on the back showing a bunch of cartoon characters."
"They're anime characters." Idia hears himself say.
"Ahh right sorry, son."
Wait. She had just described Idia backpack. Someone actually took his backpack? Azul seems to pick up this, going by the look of realization that crossed his face.
Azul then proceeds to start rummaging around in the bag again. Digging deeper this time.
While Azul does that the sheriff turns to Idia. Oh no. It was his backpack. That means he has to answer the questions now.
"What was in it?" the sheriff gives him a firm look and suddenly Idia feels like he's in trouble.
"Err…" Idia can't even come close to making eye contact with this guy. He looks like the protagonist of some old western. He's even got the cowboy hat, giant mustache, and vest.
"Most of our belonging, our wallets, phones, and other personal effects" Idia had never been so grateful to hear Azul's voice before, "In addition to that, the pins on display in that bag were also quite rare."
Idia nods eagerly, "What he said!" He doesn't remember telling Azul that those pins were worth something, but maybe Azul could just identify valuable items at a glance. It wouldn't surprise Idia.
"Ahh nuts, sorry, boys." The woman cuts in again. "Just assumed y'all were friends since ya' came in together."
"Alright, I get the gist." The sheriff cuts her off. "I'll file a report for it, soon as I get the chance."
But instead of getting up, he just lets his head flop back onto the counter.
Azul uses his hand to point to the sheriff in exasperation, "Is he going to do anything?"
"Don't worry, honey, soon as he's sobered up, I'm sure he'll take care of it. You'll probably have your things back in a week."
"A week!" Idia squeeks out.
"Ma'am, I don't mean to cause any trouble," Azul said, "But we can't stick around for a week."
"I can respect that, tell ya what. Tell me where you boys want yer things sent, and I'll make sure they get there as soon as the sheriff finds em."
That's still not what they wanted to hear…
Idia sees Azul put his typical smile back on. "Wonderful, that would be greatly appreciated."
"Are we really going to wait a week for our stuff." Idia whispers to Azul, but the other housewarden subtly shakes his head.
So Azul has some kind of plan, great…
Azul starts putting on the smaller pair of boots that were dropped on the floor.
Idia follows suit, not wanting to be the only person wearing socks in this lobby.
"Well, I believe we should be heading out now."
"Course, sugar. Just write down an address for you things."
Azul finishes tying the boots and scribbles down an address Idia doesn't recognize.
"Well thank you for your hospitality." Azul says, slinging the backpack over his shoulder.
"Normally I would protest you takin' something that ain't yours, but you boys are in a rough spot so I'll let it slide."
"My, how generous."
"Plus, the two of you are such a cute couple, I'd hate for you boys to never come back after a bad experience."
What.
Idia's heart stops for a moment. He's not able to explain how he feels in that moment. He wants to say hearing that made him panic, but at the same time it almost made him want to smile.
There's a clear look of shock on Azul's face. Idia's sure it must be present on his as well.
Azul tries to put back on that charming smile, but it looks more panicked than anything else.
"Right. Thank you." Idia feels Azul grab his arm, before quickly dragging him out of the hotel and into the streets of this unknown town. It's so foggy, Idia can barely see a few meters ahead of himself.
As they exit they hear the woman shout out to them once more.
"You boys ever need work again, feel free to come back!"