Work Text:
Title: Chain of Thought
Author: Triste
Fandom: Magi
Pairing: Kouen/Alibaba
Rating: PG
Warnings: AU (takes place in canon but Hakuryuu’s brothers never died and everyone is happy and alive)
Status: Complete
Disclaimer: Not mine
In which Alibaba and Kouen are both as dense as each other (but Hakuyuu has fun trolling them).
~~
Kouen isn’t alone when Alibaba finds him. He’s talking to Hakuyuu, presumably about something important, so Alibaba hangs back a little out of sight, unsure if he should interrupt. Even though he’s at a distance, he still notices how Kouen seems relaxed and unguarded, which is unusual enough in and of itself, but even rarer is the expression on Kouen’s face.
He’s smiling – actually smiling, not smirking or sneering – and it leaves Alibaba with conflicting emotions.
On the one hand, he’s surprised. After all, he never knew Kouen was capable of such a thing. Alibaba has seen Kouen laughing plenty of times, and nearly always because of him (it isn’t something Alibaba does on purpose, he’s not Kouen’s personal pierrot), but he’s never seen him smile before.
After the surprise comes confusion. Alibaba has no idea why Kouen is smiling. All he knows is, for whatever reason, that smile is being directed at someone other than him.
And that just makes him feel downright weird.
There’s a vague sensation of being irritated, but that only confuses Alibaba even more, because what does he have to be annoyed about?
The irritation doesn’t go away, though. If anything, it gets worse the more Alibaba thinks about it.
He spends the rest of the afternoon puzzling over his own emotions, and he tries to resolve the issue in a logical manner by breaking down his reaction in a way that he can understand.
When people get annoyed, it tends to be for a reason, and usually because someone or something is bothering them. Therefore, when Alibaba continues along that chain of thought, the thing that’s bothering enough to annoy him is seeing Kouen smiling at Hakuyuu.
Why does it annoy him?
Because Kouen was smiling for Hakuyuu, and not for him.
And that’s when Alibaba figures it out.
He’s not annoyed, he’s jealous.
That’s ridiculous though, and Alibaba refuses to accept it. He’s just overthinking things.
But he avoids Kouen anyway for a while afterwards, because he doesn’t like how the idea of being with him makes him feel so awkward, and also because Alibaba is very good at being in denial.
If he doesn’t see Kouen, then Kouen won’t have any more weird effects on him.
Because he’s even better at hiding than he is at being in denial, Alibaba spends the next few days keeping an eye out for Kouen and escaping as soon as he spots him. It even makes him feel sort of smug over being able to remain undetected for so long, because that means he’s obviously better at something than Kouen is. Kouen is tall, absurdly so, and his attire, while eye-catching, is appropriate for someone of his rank, and it doesn’t matter how much charisma he oozes, because Alibaba can blend into the shadows with his awesome ninja skills.
(Although he kind of wishes he could make as big an impression on other people as Kouen does, deep down inside.)
He’s so busy congratulating himself over not being discovered, in fact, that he doesn’t even notice when he walks straight into someone.
“I’m sorry,” he says, stepping back in embarrassment, “I didn’t mean to–”
He trails off when he sees Hakuyuu staring back at him, and his mind goes completely blank.
“I, um...” he says, now starting to panic, so he bows quickly and turns to run off in the opposite direction before finishing with, “Pleaseexcusemebye!”
Hakuyuu’s hand on his arm keeps him in place. “Do you have a moment?”
Alibaba wants to say that he doesn’t, but what comes out of his mouth instead is a meek sounding, “Yes.”
They end up in Hakuyuu’s living quarters, and Alibaba sits stiffly when asked to take a seat.
It’s his first time they’ve ever been alone together, and even without the Kouen thing, Alibaba isn’t sure how to behave around Hakuyuu. It’s not like he’s afraid of him. Rather, Alibaba admires him. He’s smart, strong, kind... everything a future king should be, really.
He tries not to stare, but it’s hard not to notice the resemblance between Hakuyuu and his youngest brother. All four siblings look alike, even Hakuei, but Hakuryuu really does take after the first-born son in appearance.
That means he’s going to grow up taller than Alibaba, and probably more handsome too, damn it.
Life is so fair.
Kouen is the eldest of his siblings too, now that Alibaba thinks about it, but the regal air he gives off is different to Hakuyuu’s, and while both of them have a tendency to be strict with others, Kouen is more of a “if you disobey me I’ll break both your arms and eat your liver” kind of person.
The only scary thing about Hakuyuu is that Alibaba doesn’t know him that well. As for Kouen... well, pretty much everything about him is terrifying.
“You don’t have to be so nervous,” Hakuyuu says in amusement.
“Yes.” Alibaba doesn’t really know how else to respond. “I mean yes, sir.”
Hakuyuu laughs. “You also don’t have to be so uptight.”
Alibaba doesn’t know how to reply to that either, so he simply says, “Okay?”
“Well,” Hakuyuu continues, “I should probably start by saying thank you for being Hakuryuu’s friend. He’s always been bad at dealing with other people, and even now he has trouble expressing himself properly. He seems to get along well with you, though.”
“We argue a lot,” Alibaba says without thinking, and then realises how bad that sounds, so he corrects himself by adding, “Sometimes. Occasionally.”
Thankfully Hakuyuu doesn’t seem offended. “Arguing is a good way of getting to know someone better. I know how stubborn Hakuryuu can be sometimes, but please have patience with him. He’s an awkward kid, but a good one. I’m grateful for all that you’ve done for him.”
Alibaba’s brain goes into melt down a little, and he starts to babble. “It was nothing. Thank you very much. Hakuryuu has been a very good friend to me, and I like him a lot. I also like Kougyoku and Hakuei-san, and Kouha, and Koumei-san, oh, and Kouen-san.” Alibaba pauses. “No, wait, I don’t, he’s an asshole.” Then he claps a hand to his mouth in horror, because crap, that wasn’t meant to come out, but Hakuyuu just laughs again at his unwitting honesty.
“Kouen talks about you a lot, you know.”
Alibaba’s hand leaves his mouth, but only to let his jaw drop in disbelief, because why on earth would Kouen be discussing him with someone else? Unless…
“Only to complain about me, right?”
“Well, there is that,” Hakuyuu admits. “But Kouen always has his criticisms.” He gives Alibaba a pat on the head. “Please also take care of my troublesome little cousin. It’s about time he stopped following behind me and started walking down his own path.”
Oh, Alibaba thinks, so that’s what this is. Kouen looks up to Hakuyuu the way everyone else does, as an admirable older brother.
Then he wonders why he feels relieved.
Hakuyuu grins and leans in closer. “Want to hear some stories about Kouen from when he was young?”
Alibaba grabs the opportunity faster than a starving man would seize a piece of meat. “Tell me the most embarrassing ones first.”
~~
Happier than he’s felt in days, Alibaba practically skips back to his room. He’s got plenty of blackmail material, and he even got to eat lunch with Hakuyuu.
Life is wonderful, at least until a hand on Alibaba’s shoulder stops him in his tracks.
“Where the hell have you been?”
Kouen sounds supremely pissed, and when Alibaba turns round to face him, he can see that he also looks like he’s about to kill someone.
“Today?” Alibaba asks cautiously. “Or in general?”
“You’ve been avoiding me,” Kouen says. “Why?”
Alibaba forgets about being happy and starts fearing for his life. “I’ve, um–” been busy getting jealous for no reason at all, is what he wants to say, but instead comes out with “–been getting to know the rest of your family. In particular, Hakuyuu-san.”
Kouen looks a little less homicidal, but his suspicion increases its intensity. “For what purpose?”
“Well, there wasn’t one, to be honest. We just kind of hung out, ate lunch and talked about stuff. It was great. I never knew Hakuyuu-san was such a cool person.”
Alibaba knows he’s said the wrong thing when the air around Kouen feels as though it’s about to ignite and burst into flames, but he has no idea why Kouen is more pissed off now than he was to begin with. He holds Hakuyuu in high regard, so surely it would make sense for him to be pleased by Alibaba’s praise?
“Oh, I forgot to tell you earlier,” Hakuyuu calls, appearing out of nowhere and nearly giving Alibaba a heart attack (now those are real ninja skills). “Kouen gets jealous easily. He’s also very possessive.”
Kouen just scoops Alibaba under one arm, gives Hakuyuu a respectful bow and then walks away.
Hakuyuu waves them off with a smile. “Have fun, you two!”
And Alibaba still has no idea just what is going on.
End.