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Leaning against the foot of his bed, Sisco glanced over his shoulder at the alarm clock on his nightstand. Four PM on a lazy Sunday, one of those days where you wake up late, skip breakfast, decide you want to stay in your pajamas, and do nothing despite having a lot to do. Beybattles could wait, Raul's crazy training ideas could wait, Valt's horrendous cooking experiments could wait, and the rest of the world could wait so he could have this moment.
He turned back to Free, who was resting his head on Sisco's lap with his eyes closed. Whether he was trying out a new meditation style or napping didn't matter. Then again, if he was napping, there would've been a line of drool from his mouth and Sisco would've taken a picture and add it to his collection titled: "bet he's dreaming of fries."
He might as well be sleeping with such a calm and content expression.
Sisco carefully fished his phone from his pocket, pulling the glove off his other hand with his mouth. He tapped on the 0.5x zoom and angled the phone over Free's forehead.
The panic he panicked when the flash came on.
"Shit—" Sisco muttered, moving the phone away and trying his best to quickly cover the light, taking a very blurry picture of Free's hair and his own fingertips.
Free grumbled, his eyes scrunching. "What are you—"
"Sorry, sorry," Sisco said, his glove dropping onto Free's face when he opened his mouth. "You looked so peaceful."
Free snorted. "So you flashbang me?" He took Sisco's glove off his face and put it on his own hand as Sisco stuffed his phone back into his pocket. "Mine now."
Sisco held Free's face in response. "Mine now," he repeated.
"You're so cheesy," Free responded as Sisco leaned down to kiss Free's forehead. "What time is it?"
"Four o'two," Sisco answered, running his ungloved hand through Free's hair. "Dinner's at six, as usual."
Free gave a small nod.
"Is there anything you want to do, besides laying here for another two hours?" Sisco asked. Honestly, he wouldn't mind, but they had been in that position for at least an hour, with Sisco scrolling on his phone till he got bored and Free relaxing until Sisco interrupted him. Free shrugged, taking Sisco's other hand in his. "Like, I dunno, want to grab some fries from McDonald's?"
"We already got McDonald's today… But you're right, if I lay here any longer I'm going to fall asleep."
"Bro, you've been laying here for a while."
"I know, but the more you talk the sleepier I get." Free sighed. "Eh, if I do fall asleep don't wake me up till dinner."
"Let's go out then," Sisco said, wanting to at least get up and stretch his legs after sitting for so long. "Go see your deer and like, frollick with it or something."
Free smiled. "Tempting. Why don't you go then?"
"I'm stuck here!" Sisco took his hand out of Free's hair to guesture to his head on Sisco's lap. Free reached for Sisco's hand and brought it back to his hair.
"Skill issue," Free mumbled.
"As much as I would love to cuddle till dinner, I feel like we should do something, y'know. We haven't done much today." Sisco combed Free's bangs into his face with his fingers. "We don't even have to move far to do something, I just don't want to keep doing nothing after doing nothing for hours. Am I making sense?"
"Mhm," Free hummed, slowly blinking open his eyes. "What do you want to do then?"
"Literally, anything." Sisco stretched his arms above his head. "We could watch a movie, do a couple battles, see if Ange needs any help with dinner, go walking in the forest, hell, I'd even ask Cuza if he has anything fun to do."
"I vote forest; Ange doesn't want me in the kitchen." Free sat up slowly, before turning around and ruffling Sisco's hair. "There, now you're free from me."
"Ha ha." Sisco rolled his eyes, standing up carefully and offering a hand to Free. He held onto Free's wrist to pull him up before sliding his glove off Free's hand. He waved it in the air a bit before putting it back on his hand. "Mine now," he teased.
Free wrapped his arms around Sisco's waist, picking him up and spinning him around once. "Mine forever."
"Who's the cheesy one now?" Sisco replied after Free put him back down. He cupped Free's face in his hands, staring lovingly as Free's face softened. Sisco gave him a quick kiss before slipping out of his arms and rushing to the door. "Race you outside."
"What? But pajamas—" He heard Free say before the room door closed. Okay, maybe challenging Free to a race wasn't the smartest, especially after forgetting he was still in his pajamas and not moving for a while. But it's okay, he had a headstart. For a bit, at least.
Sisco's loose boots thudded on the carpet as he dashed down the hall, passing by other bladers shooting questions that he didn't really catch. He grabbed the post at the top of the staircase and swung himself around, catching a blur of yellow in his peripheral and immediately assuming Free was gaining on him. He carefully walked down as fast as he could, jumping off the last two steps onto the landing and hanging onto the post to swing around again.
He heard quick footsteps behind him and someone yelling, "DON'T RUN DOWN THE STAIRS."
So he jumped off the last three steps, bending his knees a bit to absorb the impact and zip up the side of his boots before pushing back off the ground to "bound" away. (Thanks for the physics lesson…) He breathed deeply through his nose and exhaled out his mouth despite his lungs screaming for more oxygen. Darting past more people and swinging his fists. He held his hands out to push open the door at the end of the hall and skidded to a stop outside, kicking up a bit of dirt.
Sisco took another breath before coughing it back out and pressing his hands into his sides. He definetly needed to work on sprinting better or whatever. Free stepped out of the building a second or two later, breathing heavily but not completely winded like Sisco.
"You're so weird," Free said casually, tilting his head a bit. Sisco tried to supress his cough with small chuckles, except he sounded like he was wheezing. "Uhm… you good?"
Sisco gave him a thumbs up, a bit teary-eyed from coughing so much. "Yep. Not a good idea to race you, but I won anyways."
"Fix your priorities, being able to breathe should be first, getting out of your pajamas, second, then challenging me to a race."
"What if I just say 'you took my breath away?'" Sisco suggested, coughing one more time. "Why must you leave me breathless like this?"
"You suggested we'd race." Free took Sisco's hand, gently pulling him to the forest.
"Heh, and I won," Sisco repeated, squeezing Free's hand and picking up his pace.
"Whatever makes you feel taller," Free replied with a shrug. "Choose then, lake, stadium, or field?"
"First of all, I am taller," Sisco started, using his other hand to compare their height difference. "Secondly, you can choose where to go, it's pratically your forest."
Free hummed. "The deer would probably be grazing in the field right now." He tugged on Sisco's hand. "I want to make a flower crown for you."
Sisco smiled. "I'll make one for you too then."
"Charming." Free gave him a crooked grin. "I'll eat it then."
"Of course you will. One day you're going to get sick."
Free shrugged again, leading Sisco to a usual grassy field. The afternoon sun was warm on his skin, with the occasional breeze blowing the scent of grass and wildflowers past his face. They sat down in a large patch of clovers with Free scanning their surroundings for any sign of his deer.
Sisco ran his fingers down the stem of a flower, plucking it and eyeing the delicate petals. Free scooted closer to him, gathering flowers and looping them together. Sisco watched as Free carefully wound the stems together before attempting it himself.
After a couple of snapped stems and fustrated exclamations, Sisco managed to string five or so flowers together. Free held his work in progress to Sisco's head. "You have a big head."
"As in—"
"Both literally and figuratively," Free finished with a smirk. He glanced at Sisco's crown. "Not bad."
Sisco huffed. "I'm wearing gloves, they like, get in the way of my coordination. And it's my first time, okay—"
"I said it's not bad," Free repeated, flicking a clover at Sisco's face. "Keep going."
"Yes, captain," Sisco responded, picking up the clover from his lap and weaving it into the crown. After a few more flowers, Sisco saw Free look behind them.
"Look who's here to join us," Free announced, a small smile tugging at his lips. He shifted to his knees and turned around. Meanwhile, Sisco looked over his shoulder to see a familiar deer tilting it's head at Free. Sisco also turned around before leaning his head on Free's shoulder. "Hey, buddy. We're making some flower crowns," Free said softly.
The deer stepped around the two, settling a few feet in front of them and nibbling at the grass.
"Are you alright if I give my crown to him instead?" Free asked.
"I was about to ask you the same thing," Sisco answered with a chuckle. He guestured to the flowers that kept falling out. "I'm sure he won't mind how bad it looks, right?"
Free stared at it for a bit. "Yeah, you're terrible at it."
"You just said it was 'not bad!'" Sisco shot back.
"That was before all of that happened." Free scoffed, waving his hand around the end of the crown where all the loops got sloppy and loose.
"I was too distracted looking at how nice yours was," Sisco argued. Free dropped it onto Sisco's head, his hands hovering over Sisco's ears. "I—"
"It looks great on you," Free interrupted, before taking Sisco's attempt at a crown and placing it by the deer. It sniffed at the newer flowers at the end before taking a bite of the stems. "I think he likes it."
Sisco stood up and shuffled over next to Free, taking his hand. "I like you."
"You're really corny," Free commented, not taking his eyes off the deer.
"Well, earlier I was cheesy and there's such thing as cheese corn," Sisco rambled, rubbing the back of his neck and glancing at the sky. "Oh, that cloud looks like a turtle."
Free looked up, then tugged Sisco back to the ground to lay next to him. "It does not look like a turtle. It's more like a tortoise."
"… you've got to be kidding me." Sisco lightly elbowed Free. "They're basically the same thing."
"You know I just love messing with you." Free smiled, picking a blade of grass and poking Sisco's cheek with it.
"I love you."
"Oh my gosh, Sisco," Free groaned, covering the giddy smile on his face with his hands. Sisco turned on his side, blinking at Free through crooked glasses. Sisco gently pulled Free to his side and took his hands off his face. "Fine, I love you too."
Sisco grinned, holding Free's face and leaning in slowly. Free tucked Sisco's bangs behind his ear and took off his glasses before kissing him softly.
"We should start heading back," Free whispered, putting Sisco's glasses on his face. Sisco's eyes fluttered open, unsure of whether to frown at the fact Free didn't give him his glasses back or smile because of course Free didn't give him his glasses back. Sisco sat up quickly, reaching for Free's face. "Mine now!"
Free rolled to the side and got to his feet. Waving bye to his deer friend before tapping Sisco on the shoulder. "Race you back."
"What? Dude, I'm going to run into a tree or get lost—" Sisco objected, scrambling to his feet and making sure to avoid the blurry deer next to him. "Free! Oh my god."
Sisco then chased after Free's bright yellow figure, squinting slightly and hanging onto the flower crown. He finally caught up to Free back at the entrance of BC Sol, where he got his glasses back. A couple people asked why he looked like he ran a marathon, to which he told them to mind their own business.
But if people asked where he got the flower crown from he said, "it's mine."