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“W-whoa, what’s all this?” Vane glanced between the fancy outfit on his bed and Team Chickadee, who were all grinning at him.
“Everything’s handled for today, sir!” Arthur cheerfully piped up, with Mordred holding up a sheet dictating the responsibilities for the week. However, compared to the normally pristine sheet, this one had a lot of scribbles and arrows.
“Everyone wanted to change plans so we all agreed on this new one! Even the other knights. So you’ve got today off, sir!”
Taking the sheet from Mordred, Vane looked at it quickly, confirming that his day off had been shifted to today and another knight was going with Team Chikadee on patrol for the day. “And the clothes?”
“F-for this!” Tornelio held up a voucher that Vane took into hand.
His eyes widened, reading it, “This is for that new place that opened up in town! I’ve been wanting to try the food there for weeks but the lines are so long!”
“You’re always doing so much for us, please enjoy yourself today!”
With the encouragement of his chicks, Vane got dressed up and set out for the restaurant. Only to run into a pleasant surprise when he arrived.
“Lan-chan!” He boisterously called out, waving, “You’re all dressed up too!” Since Lancelot was as dressed up as him.
The captain laughed, “Well, the king wants to bring dignitaries here on a tour so he asked me to test out the food here. I thought you had patrol today.”
Vane held up the voucher, “Schedules were changed so why don’t we eat together then?”
With a bright smile, “Of course.” And together they walked inside.
With ease, the restaurant seated the captain and vice-captain of the Order of the White Dragons.
“I was expecting a longer wait!” Vane laughed as his eyes scanned the menu.
“The king arranged for a table ahead of time.” Having made his selection, Lancelot set the menu aside, smiling as he watched Vane ooh and ahh over the menu. While waiting for the waiter to come by, Lancelot had to chuckle as Vane excitedly pointed out rare ingredients that the menu was listing.
Soon enough, the pair had ordered and received their food. Lancelot adored seeing Vane’s face light up as he bit into his food. “Lan-chan! This is so good! I could eat this all day!”
Eating at a more regular pace, “Yes, it’s good. I still prefer your cooking, however.”
A blush spread across Vane’s face as he tried to refute Lancelot, only to continue to be shot down, “I mean it, your meals are what keep me going through the paperwork every day.”
Against the gentle smile in front of him, Vane’s blush could only grow deeper as he muttered a thank you for the compliment and ate his food. Light conversation picked up throughout the rest of the meal as Vane and Lancelot jumped from talking about the knights, the Grandcypher crew, and ended up on simple reminiscing that followed them out of the restaurant all the way to an open field of sunflowers framed by the light of a setting sun.
They combined Vane’s vest and Lancelot’s longcoat as a makeshift blanket for them to sit on and watch the sunset. Lancelot and Vane sat shoulder to shoulder, talking about whatever came to mind.
“You’re a far cry from the crybaby who was scared of sword training, Vane.”
“I hope! I have to be way better than that to be your vice-captain!” Vane grinned, “At least the captain still is as righteous and just as ever.”
“Everyone’s support is why I’ve come this far…” The sun was hiding it but a brilliant the blush spread across Lancelot’s face as he smiled and laid his hand atop Vane’s on the makeshift blanket, “But yours especially, Vane.”
They matched each other blush for blush as Vane’s other hand sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, “I just do my best. I’m not the only one who helps you out.”
“You do a lot more than you think. You’re my vice-captain with good reason.” And quickly, Lancelot pressed his lips softly to Vane’s as he turned to look at Lancelot.
As Lancelot pulled away, a mischievous smile on his face, “I love you. I feel like I don’t say it enough if you’re undercutting how important you are.”
Vane blinked at the surprise kiss, and the words, before he broke into a grin, “I love you too, Lan-chan! Now and always! I’ll be at your side.” He returned the kiss with one of his own.
They leaned into each other, watching the sun set, continuing to speak softly, exchanging little kisses every now and then.