NOTES: there's a touch of canon divergence here: corrin is not queen of anything, despite having gone down the valla route. things are a lot more easygoing than they are in canon. i don't know why i didnt write azura into this when she would have come if corrin asked, but let's just say that azura is dealing with valla while corrin's here. there are a lot of other differences aside you'll note here, so you might as well assume this is actually more au than not.

you'll see it later, but leo and takumi have already had their c support by this point. and the whole fic is going to be really leokumi-centric. this "chapter" is really more of a prologue, i just really wanted to post something bc i'm getting antsy staying home sick.

"We're going camping," Corrin says one day, striding into the dining hall where her Nohrian siblings were seated. Evidently she had rushed over as fast as royalty could buy, as she was still in her Hoshidan robes and looked rather out of place in the hall. Flushed with excitement, chattering too quickly for anyone to comprehend, hair still aflutter from the warm springtime Hoshidan wind - she glowed like a lantern, her light gentle and warm.

Leo was swept away by it every time. How was it possible for someone to be so full of love that they could devote their love fully to two entirely different families and still have some left for countless others? He'd missed her dearly during her brief stay in Hoshido, as proven in all the time he spent doubting her and living practically alone in Nohr without her, and was fascinated by her trusting nature and gentle aura ...

Admiration aside, however, the words that had previously exited this phenomenon of a sister were very unwelcome news to Leo. "Camping?" he says, incredulously, unable to wait for Corrin's monologue to peter out. "Why? And with whom? Where?"

He notes how Corrin's interest is piqued at the growing alarm in Leo's tone, and the coy smile she suddenly wears. Dread seeps into his bones.

"My Hoshido family, of course!" Corrin spins around in her beautiful robes and spreads her arms, fully displaying the cherry-blossom design sewn into it. "You guys are allies now, but you barely ever get to see each other outside of diplomatic reasons, so I figured it would be a good bonding experience!" She looks directly at Leo as she says the next part. "You all should come. I bet it'll be great stress relief."

Camilla, as expected, is already agreeing. "Anything for my dearest Corrin," she says in that doting way of hers. Elise seems skeptical about the concept of "camping," but Corrin mentions that Sakura had been excited for the trip, and the youngest princess was sold.

Xander was a bit more complicated to convince. Dinner sat half-eaten in front of the Nohrian royal as everyone except Leo left their seats to negotiate with the new king— "Who will run the country while I'm gone?" "I've already checked, there's nothing you have to do that can't wait three or four days—" "Will the people's skepticism of the monarchy not be strengthened by the four of us leaving?" "Have more faith in your people, brother!"

Leo, personally, is absolutely unwilling to attend this trip. Camping, while he could be doing other things much more valuable with his time? And that ... archer. The Hoshidan prince. Evidently, he was Corrin's favorite of the Hoshidans, just as Corrin held the favor of Camilla in this family (just as Leo hoped he had to Corrin), and she compared poor Leo to this prince at innumerable instances of time. He knew he was meant to participate and get along with that prince Takumi during such diplomatic reasons that Corrin had mentioned before, but the mere thought of amicable relations with a prince so impeccably prickly made Leo grit his teeth. He was nothing like that Hoshidan dog!

Though, technically, he wasn't allowed to call them such names anymore. Corrin had forbade it until the point where the two families could become close enough that the deprecating names they once held for each other could grow into pet names. Privately, Leo feared that they might never reach that point. He could never imagine speaking the words "Hoshidan dog" without the distasteful tone it always had before.

But then again, Corrin was all about change. She switched hairstyles every week or so back when the war was being waged, and even now her hair has never stayed fixed for long. Leo will never understand the novelty behind such actions. Not that he questions her on it, though; he hasn't questioned her decisions since the day he joined her cause against their ... father.

In the end, Corrin's powers of persuasion won out on everyone and even poor indoorsy Leo had his trunks being packed and weather being forecasted by the court's soothsayers.

"It's not horribly far from here," Corrin says brightly once they've hit the road. "It's a real nice place, right by the border, and sometimes the butterflies take a break in them when they migrate—"

And so they went: camping, for three days and nights, in one of Hoshido's far-reaching forests. Never before had Leo had the fortune of seeing forests so lush back in his cold, desolate homeland. The war had prevented him from appreciating such nature in its entirety, but now that he fully saw the true beauty that the verdant flora had on display he firmly decided he was glad that he had defected from his father's side before the overflowing natural beauty that Hoshido possessed could be engulfed by Nohr and its suffocating darkness.

Not that he can ever admit this, though. Instead he remains silent and enjoys the sights from horseback, feigning disinterest when Corrin looks in his general direction.

"Welcome," says the crown prince, and now king, of Hoshido. He stands upon a rock in clothes much less formal than the regal battle gear Leo had grown accustomed to seeing him in, arms folded and stance proud. Leo remarks that he looks much less lobster-like without it. "I trust the ride here was satisfactory viewing?"

"Of course," says Xander. Leo can't help but notice how his elder brother straightens up a little on his steed and faces his fellow king with a regal demeanor. "Your nation's natural beauty is quite a sight to behold."

The man looks pleased for about two seconds before his face falls back into Serious Mode.

"Ah, Ryouma," Corrin says cheerfully, leading her mare by the reins to her blood brother's side. "You don't need to show off, you do that enough at diplomat meetings. We're here to have a good time!" And she laughs a little. "You can relax. I don't know why you're so tense today, it's just camping."

Ryouma doesn't say anything back, but he looks a little flustered. If Leo didn't know any better, he'd say the poor man was nervous. So Corrin says, "Looks like they've pitched tents already. We can keep the horses over to this side," and she walks off and away from the clearing, wherein Leo is slightly hesitant to follow into.

The first thing he notices that there are no other beasts in the clearing that Corrin leads them into, but upon examining the sky he notices a lone pegasus circling what he assumes to be the perimeter of the camp the Hoshidans had set up. "That one's Hinoka's steed," Corrin mentions upon noticing Leo's gaze, and she dismounts with a huff that's almost cute. "Everyone else hiked here, if that's what your're wondering."

Leo hated how Corrin could read him like that, but it was indeed the question that bubbled at his throat. "Oh," he says, intelligently, pretending not to be interested.

He hears Corrin snort softly, but she says nothing.

Leo has probably never gone hiking in his life. He'd taken it upon himself to leave the castle only when necessary, in an effort to throw himself wholly into keeping up with his ... overly talented elder siblings. He's read about beautiful hikes through nature, though he could never fully imagine it back in gloomy, dead Nohr, but here ...

He's a bit loath to admit it, but Leo isn't opposed to the idea of a little trek through glowing Hoshidan greenery. It sounded pleasant. There was a nice breeze, and the trees blocked out just the right amount of sunlight—

Though no one could hear his thoughts, he clears his throat awkwardly to dismiss them and dismounts his mare, leading her to stand beside Corrin's. Xander, Camilla, and Elise had already done so, and the prince stood alone in the clearing.

Disliking the feeling, he hurries after them.

It seemed, however, that hiking was on their agenda anyways, and Leo decides that this is a good thing. Once Corrin had helped her Nohrian family set up their tents, notably a darker and richer material than the Hoshidans', she announced that a hike was imminent and that everyone should go pack some things.

"We'll be out until the sun goes down." she says cheerfully, as if the very thought of it doesn't send a sense of distaste bubbling in Leo's stomach. "Pack light! We don't want to be exhausted by anything more than terrain." She looks very pointedly at Leo for this.

Elise applauds the decision and rushes into her tent to prepare. Camilla follows, her pace an easy sway; the girls shared a tent, meaning Leo roomed with Xander, and it was the same for the Hoshido group.

Luckily for Leo, Xander was a light and efficient packer. and he was prepared and assisting Corrin in filling waterskins before Leo could make a fool of himself in front of his elder brother by waffling between things to take. He held his smallest travel pack in front of him, desperately wishing he could take a book with him but also knowing that it would only hinder him, and when would he get a chance to read it anyways?

Leo had a small notebook with him. He packs this and a writing utensil, hoping he might note some things about the trip, and it was the only definitive item he had at the moment. At this rate, it would take him till sunset to figure himself out.

He exhales very tightly. He was not made for this kind of excursion. He pushes something akin to a bandanna into his pack, and, at his paranoia's gentle insistence, an extra pair of socks. Leo leaves the tent after this. Spending even just another minute in there would do him no good, forcing the rest of the camp to linger, waiting for him to finally be prepared—he wishes they could leave already. Somehow this was far too nerve-wracking to feel like a "relaxing trip".

Not two steps out of his shared tent, he catches the attention of that ... Hoshidan prince Corrin compares him to so often. His hair is done up as usual, but the end is tied up so that it makes a loop out of his unnecessarily long hair. A more childish side of Leo thought of sticking his arm through it and jerking it down, but he fought the urge and instead folded his hands behind his back. It was a cold, diplomatic stance that Leo used very often. Likewise, his Hoshidan counterpart stood legs apart and arms folded, head tilted as if looking down on Leo, even if the other was visibly taller than him.

"Prince Takumi," he says coolly.

"Prince Leo," the other replies, equally chilled.

There is a silent standoff then as they stare each other down. They had interacted before, during the war, simply because interaction was inevitable when Corrin put them beside each other so often for some reason. The only thing they had established was the fact that neither of them saw the other as a profitable relationship to build and there was no other interaction save for that, despite Corrin's best attempts to make them talk. Leo found his fellow prince's demeanor abhorrent and generally went out of his way to comment snidely on him, but mostly because Takumi would do so first.

It was very childish of them, though neither was fond of admitting it.

Corrin sent me to fetch you," Takumi says indifferently. "We'll be leaving camp in a bit. Don't hold us back." It's barely visible, but Leo sees it: a light nip at his bottom lip. He'd been restraining an insult, probably by Corrin's request.

Of course, she's made no such task of him, so he is not deterred in his response. "I wouldn't dream of it," Leo says, not bothering to rein in his dry tone of voice, and pushes past the Hoshidan.

He allows himself a little pride as he approaches Corrin, who's handing waterskins to her siblings as they passed her. They form a jumbled group at the mouth of a path that leads deeper into the wood. Although Leo grumbles a bit as he accepts a waterskin, when the breeze tumbles through his hair he can't help but feel a little excited.

Well ... excited is too strong a word. In general he is simply less inclement about this excursion than he had initially thought.

Then Prince Takumi strides past him, nudging him heartily like it was an accident, and the sentiment crashes. Perhaps that single moment of high hopes had been a side effect of feeling victorious over the truly insufferable Hoshidan prince, who he now saw smirking in response to Leo's unprepared stumbling.

This will not be fun, he thinks, and relishes briefly in the reprimanding look that Corrin sends at Takumi.

NOTES: if you have anything you want to see them do, drop a review and i'll see what i can do! also i know it's weird that im writing this in dead winter but i started this in summer and am only posting it now because fuck me, that's why.