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[The fingers at his hair are welcome, and he flashes a soft smile over his shoulder, handing Itachi the red ribbon that had been used to keep it up.]

Will you help me tie it up? [For as tactile as Wei Wuxian is, Itachi is the only one aside from himself who handles his hair, and the presence of his hands there now fill Wei Wuxian with a peace he's been missing for several weeks. His eyes fall closed and he settles into the moment. Without opening his eyes, his fingers twist in front of him, deftly forming the seals for a couple more light arrays that float to the ceiling of the cave and stay there.

It's still dimly lit, but the light makes the water glow even more and he lets out a hum of satisfaction when he opens his eyes to take it in.]

（ his hands are... rougher than he's used to, in places he is unaccustomed to. the mending of sails and nets and scaling of ropes largely without chakra, the cleaning and tarring of the decks mean that his nails are chipped and in some places broken from a glut of hard labour, and he flexes his fingers briefly before taking the ribbon with unaccustomed gingerness.

he knows that if he protests that his hands are dirty, wei ying will only say he does not care.

so, instead, he is just very mindful and deft with how he ties it up, not to let it snag or snarl on any of the man's hair. ）

[When Itachi is done, Wei Wuxian turns to face him and brings one of his hands up to lay his fingers on Itachi's cheek. He says nothing as he stands there and looks at him, drinking in the much missed sight, and allowing his own (calloused and dry) thumb to slide along Itachi's cheek just for a moment.

I missed you He doesn't say because he already has said and Itachi knows. Instead he stays there holding his gaze, soft smile on his face, and breathing in as a missing piece inside of him slots into place.

He exhales after a while and steps away to the edge of the water, and because he does nothing by halves, immediately dives in. He surfaces a moment later and swims to the edge of the pool to rest his arms over the rock. The water is cold but there must be a warm current in this part of the sea because it's really not terrible.]

You're coming in, right?

（ the talismans flicker overhead. the bioluminescent waters shift with a gentle current, shielded from the ocean by the rocks and caverns of the cove. he casts his eyes skyward as if searching for an answer writ damply in stone.

then, with a faint exhalation through his nose, he begins to remove his clothing piece by piece. there are other bruises beneath his clothing — nothing that could not be explained away through combat — and he moves with no more difficulty than normal.

rather than dive in, he simply walks out across the water, and then lets himself sink into it, jaw set against the ambient temperature which is much lower than he likes. ）

Against my better judgment, yes.

[He laughs warm and bright, and then as if pulled by a gravitational force, he swims closer to him if for no other reason than to be near him. He notices the bruises just as he noticed the ones before, but this time he does frown, a flicker of question across his brows.]

What kind of role are you playing on your ship?

（ treading water is simple enough, but so is simply channeling chakra to his feet and anchoring himself within the water so he does not need to much trouble himself about it. a trick learned long ago from kisame. ）

Jake took it upon himself to craft my cover story. To hear him tell it, he rescued me from a circus. （ his mouth twists, and wei ying can no doubt gauge how his fondness for the absurd creature wars with his deep irritation. ） He informed them I was not much of a fighter. Partly, I think, to see if I was capable of behaving as such.

（ or, perhaps it was because jake understands his refusal to kill, and was attempting to give him what he felt was a kinder recourse.

or perhaps a bit of both. the dog's motivations are often a mystery. ）

You have my word they are largely superficial. I have no interest in allowing myself to be harmed unnecessarily.

[It isn't often he finds himself genuinely annoyed at Jake's antics. Terrified of his barking? Absolutely, but actual annoyance is rare. Does he not know how serious Itachi takes his roles? How framing him as a noncombatant would leave him vulnerable? He exhales and shakes his head. There's no way Jake would have intentionally put Itachi in harm's way, but it was a careless idea.

That Itachi could wipe the floor with any one of his assailants means nothing if he's been cast as someone who can't.]

Good. That dumb dog...[He mutters under his breath without any real heat behind it. He is going to have word with Jake about it later though.

He leans on his back to float just for a moment because some of them do have to tread water the whole time.]

If our ships ever fight each other, point out which ones got the hits in. Just for fun.

（ he snorts. ）

If our ships ever meet in combat, we will have a great many other concerns to deal with before you take it upon yourself to defend my honour, Wei Ying.

（ he reaches out, and gives a little tweak of his fingers to the man's forehead. ）

Enough.

I can multitask. [He quips back, but when he pops back up after that flick, there's amusement in his eyes as he clearly knows the ridiculousness in the suggestion. Not that it means he wouldn't actually do it.]

We've only fought with other ships a few times on the Hawking. Mostly we're just searching for a way to Dracness. [He pauses then, his thoughts drifting.]

I wish you could have met Warrior Leixi. I liked her a lot.

（ he has kept tabs on the hawking as much as he has been able — there are many people aboard for whom he cares too deeply to allow ignorance of its journey and fate.

he is glad, certainly, that it has been more peaceful for them. ）

Tell me of her.

[For a moment there is only the sound of the waves lapping softly against the cave walls as Wei Wuxian considers what to say about her.]

I know the falling of a kingdom is never simple. Whether the Kalains were entirely just and the rebellion a grave injustice, I don't know. It seems more likely to me that there were good and bad among them. But Warrior Leixi was good. She was a proud warrior. [Not arrogant, just proud.] And she was loyal to the end. She gave her life to protect the High Queen's retreat with the princess. She gave her life to protect her sister. [Itachi knows enough of Wei Wuxian's story to know why such a decision would land so heavily and why he would view it with such admiration.]

She was the general who led the High Queen's army. She fought to the last. There was a strength about her, and a calm too. And she loved her dragon partner.

I asked her if there was anything I could do to honor her, and she only thought of her dragon and protecting any surviving kin.

（ dragons, hm?

itachi closes his eyes briefly — it is not a difficult scene to imagine, for all that it is sparsely painted. he has toppled enough kingdoms to know.

he lifts a hand, then, and begins to take out the braids. leticia was trying to be kindly, as much as is tolerated aboard the plunder, but they are unpleasantly tight against his scalp. he cards his fingers through the hair as it is freed, ends dipped in the water like an inkbrush, the rest wavy with several days' captivity. ）

Will that be a possibility, do you think?

（ it is not in the man's nature to let such a request go unfulfilled — at least if it within his power to do so. and in all matters of wei ying setting his shoulder to the wheel of some task, itachi will take up beside him. ）

I think they're out there. [Because if any creatures are resilient then it must be dragons.]

The dragons didn't all live in the capital with the High Queen. Only the ones that were bonded to one of the warrior women stayed there, and once their human companion died, they returned to their nesting ground, Dracness. If that's true, then there's no reason they would have been wiped out.

They've probably been living on that island for all of these years. I can't imagine they'd want much to do with humans anymore.

And if the orb is on Dracness then an encounter is probably inevitable.

（ he makes a soft sound of agreement and then — with the last of his hair free of the braids, he ducks briefly underneath the water to dampen it. salt in one's hair is not exactly the same as the soaps and oils he customarily uses, but it is better than the stench of tar and tobacco and the sweet-smelling stench of the intoxicants consumed aboard the ship. ）

Have you ever considered what it may be like to fail in retrieving the orb?

（ itachi is not one for theoreticals, generally — but he is curious. ）

[The question surprises him and it shows in his face. He takes a moment before answering.]

I've wondered from time to time. Since the orb is the key to our return to the station, I'm not even sure how it would work. [He knows they've come pretty close to failing before so it isn't like he doesn't see it as a possibility.]

Do you think there's a higher chance we might fail this one? [As Itachi wets his hair, Wei Wuxian swims behind him and pulls his hair through his fingers, deftly working it through the water to thoroughly soak it and wash away any lingering grime.]

（ there is a bit of tension to his shoulders when wei ying circles behind him, gradually easing at the touch. ）

Not especially.

（ nothing of the actions they have undertaken has been incorrect. no one has jeopardized their ultimate goal that he is aware of.

he tilts his chin down, stretching out the muscles of his neck and back and giving wei ying better access to his hair. ）

But... we are playing a game of odds. Thus far, we have had a hundred percent success rate in retrieving the orbs, and only one death — that Sabriel then undid. The longer we go without serious mishap, the more concerned I become that we will grasp at failure.

[He hums in response, cupping one hand full of water to scrub at some of Itachi's hair resting above the water.]

It could happen. I like to think that we are learning as we go though. That what we've learned increases our odds at least a little. [Not always, not when they willingly spurn what they've learned like they did in Forsythe Heights, but when they use their knowledge of past missions to inform their decisions.]

Do you think we'd be sent back to the same planet another time if we fail?

（ the contented little sound that he makes, the subtle way he lists into the attention are probably indication enough that he is enjoying himself, frankly. ）

Knowledge is not always a stopgap against failure.

（ you can be the best shinobi alive, and still fail. he has seen it, time and again and again. ）

There would be no other choice but to return. Failure does not mean the orb would cease to occupy a planet.

Mmm. [His fingers scrub lightly at Itachi's scalp as he works before returning to his hair.]

There isn't anything we can do other than what we're already doing to prevent it. If we fail then we'll deal with it when it happens. The best we can do now is do our best to retrieve the orb.

Does it worry you?

Yes.

（ not something he would admit to readily to another. but he has borne up beneath the weight of his concern for some time now. the more deeply he cares for those around him, the more challenging it becomes to keep his goals in clear sight.

matters have... become muddied.

not to mention if they ever were to fail a mission, he is not entirely certain he could look viveca in the eye afterwards. ）

But worry is inconsequential. Events will happen regardless.

[He can't assuage that worry, and outside of trying to distract him—a tactic that he's sure Itachi wouldn't appreciate even if he tolerated it—Wei Wuxian hasn't ever been great at offering anyone solace. After a long pause, he speaks.]

If it happens, we'll face it together just like everything else. [This much at least, he can promise.]

I can hardly be the first person to find your optimism infuriating, Wei Ying.

（ there is a weary sigh, and then itachi shifts in the water like a dancer on steady ground — maintaining his balance in the water with one hand braced atop it, chakra making it seem like nothing else so much as earth. he turns to face the man, his friend, and then: ）

I have also missed you.

[That gets a soft snort from him. It isn't optimism, not really. He was optimistic once, but now, now this is pure stubbornness. It is all he has, the sheer determination to push through and face challenges as they come.

But he argues none of that as Itachi moves to face him, the movement impossibly graceful in a way that belies the use of his abilities. The words sink into his heart and it aches. He'd hoped Itachi had missed him just a little. Not for want to cause his friend suffering but to know that even when Itachi needed time away, that he still wanted Wei Wuxian.]

I'm here now.

（ he reaches out, and takes the man by his hand, pulling him forward just enough that leaning in to kiss him is not disruptive to his tenuous balance. the kiss is soft and chaste as anything — but it is undercut with a sort of lingering heat, soft and pleasant as summer rain. he laces their fingers together with a slow deliberation, and when the kiss breaks apart he draws a moment's breath before redoubling it to the back of wei ying's hand. ）

I have yet to thank you for the art.

（ the sketches pressed down into pages of their linked journals, each telling a little story. he has largely kept it tucked away — if for no other reason than the fact he would likely be forced to give it up if another discovered he had anything of value, but. when he is able to steal private moments... he has not been unaware of all that wei ying has drawn for him. ）

[He doesn't forget where they are or why, not really, but from the moment Itachi pulls him closer, the rest of it fades to background noise. The recent distance between them had made him more tentative than usual, but that all falls away now and he kisses back as softly, chasing Itachi's mouth when he pulls away. His eyes stay closed for a moment before fluttering open almost reluctantly.]

There's nothing to thank me for. [He says quietly into the space between them, meaning it.]

I like capturing the things we see on missions and I like being able to share them with you. If you aren't at my side, then at least I can share them like this. And I liked yours too. [He smiles and drapes his arms around Itachi's shoulders, as much for the closeness as to give his core muscles a small break.]

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