nealuchi | being late

Title: being late
Fandom: Bungou to Alchemist
Character(s): Ton, Naoya, Kyouka, Musha, Arishima
Pairing(s): Naoya/Ton
Genre: Fluff
Word Count: 900
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Summary: Ton is frustrated with how much weaker he is than the rest of the White Birch.
Notes:

It’s hard to be the late one.

Naoya and Musha were in the library from near to the very beginning. They’re two of the strongest authors, combat-wise, and they’ve been on mission after mission. They reference things that have happened that Ton knows nothing about: the first time they encountered the white books, campaigns to summon a specific author, running out of ink while the librarian tries not to tear out their hair.

Arishima came later, but he still has seen the inside of plenty of books. He’s not the strongest of writers, but he’s no slouch in combat either.

Ton is late in arriving. Since he’s late, he’s left out of the conversation about events he wasn’t around for. Since he’s late, he’s weak, and since he’s weak he isn’t sent on important missions like Naoya and Musha are. And him needing help in battle only gives Naoya another excuse to tease him about being the baby of the bunch. He’s not a kid! He’s technically ninety-four! Naoya’s only eighty-eight!

Of course it’s not anybody’s fault that he took so long to arrive. He can’t blame the librarian, who’s done their best to summon everyone that can be summoned. He can’t blame Naoya or Musha or Arishima for showing up earlier either.

But it still sucks!

“It isn’t the end of the world to arrive late,” Kyouka says, sipping his tea. “I took a long time to be summoned myself.”

“But Kyouka-sensei, you’re so strong that you’re sent on missions anyway even though everyone else has a head start… You get to fight for literature way more often than I do.” Ton appreciates the sympathy, but Kyouka’s situation really isn’t the same.

“Would you like to take my place in the next expedition?” Kyouka asks. “I can speak to the librarian about it…”

As nice a thought as that is, Ton knows that he isn’t a suitable replacement for Kyouka. He’d just end up holding the others back, and then he’d only become more upset about his own weakness. So he shakes his head. “Thanks though.”

“As you wish. …Your tea is getting cold.”

“Oh, I completely forgot about it!”

“Don’t worry!” Musha smiles as brightly as ever. “No matter how early or late you were, Shiga would call you a kid anyway!”

“That’s the opposite of making me feel better about it?” Sure he’s used to being called ‘kid of novels’ after all this time, but that doesn’t mean he wants to actually be treated like a kid!

“Oh yeah.” Musha thinks for a few moments. “Well, I don’t know how you can catch up to us, but if you ask the librarian nicely I’m sure they’ll send you on some easier missions?”

“I guess, but…” Ton rubs the back of his neck. “I don’t want to be the one who makes us get fewer souls just ‘cause I want to fight too.”

“You can go while all the veterans are repairing! So you won’t take anything away, you’ll just be getting us more.”

It sounds nice, but… is that really the solution to him feeling like he’s being carried?

“Why do you want to fight so badly?” Arishima asks. “It isn’t very fun.”

Ton puffs his cheeks out petulantly. “I want to help save literature too! Like you and Shiga-nii and everyone else!”

Of course he knows that it isn’t fun like what he usually does with Naoya. He’s visited him enough in the infirmary to be certain of that. It’s not fun, but it’s important! He cares about protecting literature as much as anybody else does.

Arishima sighs. “You’ll get hurt if you start going on delves regularly. As your brother, I can’t really approve of that.”

“You’re one to lecture me about getting hurt…”

Arishima visibly winces. Maybe that was a bit of a low blow, but it’s true.

“We’re not trying to make you feel left out,” says Naoya. “It just kind of turned out that way. Besides, you’re not really missing much.”

“It sounds like a lot,” Ton says. “Rice riots, figuring out what the white books were, purifying this and that… I want to be a part of things now, at least.”

Naoya ruffles Ton’s hair. “You are a part of things even if you don’t fight as much as we do. You’re a valuable part of the library, you know?”

“Easy for you to say.” Ton sticks his tongue out at Naoya, but he doesn’t move to avoid the hair ruffling.

Naoya laughs. “You really are the kid of novels, huh?”

“I’m not a kid!”

…But couldn’t he be happy even without being a frontline fighter, as long as he’s with Naoya and the rest like this? He’s lucky to have been reunited with them, isn’t that what's most important?

No, he realizes, and the real reason for all of this frustration abruptly becomes clear.

“I want Shiga-nii to rely on me sometimes, too,” he says. “It’s not fair otherwise.”

“That so?” Naoya is still smiling. “Well, if you work hard, I’m sure you’ll catch up to me and Musha in no time. Then I’ll trust you to have my back.”

Ton beams. “I can do that! I will do that! I’ll be rescuing you before you know it, Shiga-nii!”

Naoya ruffles his hair again, and this time Ton is the one who laughs out loud.

Being late isn’t so bad.