Notes: Find the hidden Ace Attorney reference and win absolutely nothing!

Primrose

Rody's day on the road with Deku was mostly uneventful in terms of sight-seeing. That was to be expected, of course—they weren't on a happy-go-lucky field trip or something, they were trying to flee the country. What stops they did make along the way tended to be stocking up on supplies, filling up on gas, or simply surveying their surroundings in order to navigate more difficult terrain.

But once—just once—Rody noticed that instead of his eyes being glued to the map as usual, Deku's attention was directed outside the window.

Curious, Rody craned his neck to see what they were passing on the right side, and then whistled in appreciation. "Whoa. Huge flower field, huh?"

"Yeah," Deku agreed, never taking his eyes off the vast, sprawling expanse of colorful flora.

Rody turned his eyes back to the road, stifling a grin. "What, you don't have flower fields in Japan?"

"Ah... no, we do!" Deku finally turned to him with a bashful smile. "In the countryside, at least! But I'm kind of a city kid, so..."

"Hmmm." Rody considered this information for a moment, tapping a finger against the steering wheel, before arriving at his decision. "Wanna stop and take a look?"

"Huh?! No, I didn't mean that—"

The taller teen already had his foot on the brake. "It's fine, let's take a look."

Deku still looked conflicted. "We don't really have time for this though? What if the villains... or the police..."

"As if they'd really expect to find a 'cold-blooded mass murderer' frolicking in the flowers." Having slowed to a stop, Rody shifted into park and cut the engine. "It's just a few minutes, I wanna stretch my legs anyway. And maybe the flowers will... help your wound heal or something? You know, what's it called..." He waved a finger in the air as he jogged his brain. "Aromatherapy?"

It was a piss-poor excuse, and Deku obviously knew that, but the hero didn't bother poking holes in the logic. "Well, okay," he finally relented before opening the passenger-side door. "Let's take a look really quick then."

The field was even more striking to see after leaving the truck, without a grungy window tainting their view, and Deku didn't bother to hold back on his admiration.

"Wow!" he cried out, immediately stepping off the gravel road and right into the midst of the flowers. "They really do go as far as you can see, huh?!"

Rody watched with a touch of amusement as the Japanese hero knelt down among the flowers, looking more like a little kid than a tough-as-nails hero willing to put himself in the line of fire for someone else. He was glad, in that moment, that he had insisted on stopping, though even he wasn't sure why he wouldn't take no for an answer. He also didn't know how to place the warm feeling filling his chest, but a quick glance at Pino helped him identify it as pride.

So that explained it. It had been a long time since Rody had felt any sort of pride in Otheon, years struggling to survive in the underbelly of society leaving him jaded and cynical. And in the short time that this foreign hero had spent in the country, he hadn't been shown particularly savory aspects of it, either. But here they had stumbled upon something good, something impressive about Otheon, and Rody had wanted to show it to Deku.

Maybe Rody had wanted to show it to himself, too.

Damn, he really could be a sentimental bastard sometimes, couldn't he? With a light laugh and a shrug, Rody stepped off the road to join Deku in the field.

"This is really nice," Deku said as Rody sat himself down next to him. "Thanks for stopping. I don't think it'll do much for my injury, though."

Rody chuckled and plucked a few of the flowers, beginning to idly weave the stems together. "Hey, you never know, Hero."

Deku relaxed into a contented smile, his eyes focused on Rody's hands at work. "Are you making a flower crown?"

"I guess. I'm kind of just messing around, honestly."

The freckled boy hummed thoughtfully, then pointed at one of the flowers Rody was working with. "That's a daisy, right?"

"Uh... maybe?" Rody took a closer look at the flower in question; it had several white petals and a yellow center, which he thought was what a daisy was supposed to look like, but he couldn't be sure. "I dunno, really."

"Hmm. How about that flower there, what's that?"

Rody gave a wry laugh. "I'm gonna be honest with you, Hero: I don't know shit about flowers. I know tulips and sunflowers but that's about it."

"Oh..." Deku looked a little disappointed. "So then that one—"

"Red flower," Rody answered immediately. "And that one's called purple flower. This one's pink flower, and there's yellow flower, and—"

"How about orange flower?" Deku suggested with a grin, pointing to the left side of his chest. "You know, the one you had on the jacket you were wearing when we met yesterday. You don't even know the name of that one?"

Rody pouted and added another flower to the crown in his hands. "Nope, no clue. It's just something my sister gave me."

"Huh. So what about—"

"Deku, maybe shut up." Rody leaned over to drop the finished crown on the hero's mop of curls. He immediately had to fight back a laugh at the other boy's dumbfounded expression. "There we go. You look adorable."

"Ador—?!" Deku's face went red. "I— Jeez, don't tease me, Rody!"

Rody only laughed, and when Deku gave him a friendly shove that was probably a bit more forceful than the hero had intended, he laughed even harder, grasping his stomach and not even bothering to break his fall into the carpet of color.

Their time would be up soon, and they'd have to go back on the road, return to the reality of being fugitives on the run. But for the moment, it was nice to forget all that and just be two kids goofing off and having fun, making the most of Otheon's splendor.