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ONE – Early in the morning
The cathedral is quiet. Hinawa and Obi are the only ones up this early and they intend to enjoy it. They love how… festive and alive their company had become, but now these quiet moments were treasured minutes to delight in as much as possible.
Hinawa was already cooking breakfast, and, considering the amount of food, he might be preparing something for lunch too. Obi got closer hugging him lightly from behind.
“How many meals are you cooking there?” he joked resting his chin on the other man’s shoulder
“Are you aware of how much the people under your charge usually eat?”
“They are growing teens…” Obi chuckled “And you work them to the bone so they need the energy.” He kissed Hinawa’s cheek and could feel the amused smile “Can I help you with anything?”
“You could make some coffee…” The Lieutenant gave him a small shrug, trying not to bother his Captain with the sudden movement “but I think you’re doing a great job already…”
“Oh, yeah?” Obi replied teasingly, closing his arms around Hinawa’s waist just slightly “Then I guess I’ll stick to my strengths for a little longer before I go make-”
A loud crash at close distance interrupted them, suddenly the cathedral was alive and full of screaming. They both sighed. Arthur and Shinra could be heard fighting a mile away. Obi hid his face against the lieutenant’s neck for one last second and groaned before fully letting go.
“I’ll go check no one is dead or dying…” He said opening the kitchen door just in time for the two rookies to enter rolling around fighting on the floor
“They better be…” Hinawa grumbled without looking up.
TWO – Late at night
Although as fire soldiers they were always on duty, unless the alarm went off it was late enough to consider their shift over. Hinawa knocked on the Captain’s office door and waited for Obi to let him in. He entered carrying two cups of tea and closed the door behind him.
“You look terrible.” his statement was received with a chuckle.
“Well, thank you, Hinawa, I’m glad I invited you in.”
“You know what I mean, Captain.” he replied giving his superior one of the cups
“I know, I know.” Obi sighed taking the offered brewage “I kept reading older case files and got behind on yesterday’s work, I was just finishing with today’s reports”
“You’ve been staying late for the last few days.” he said relaxing against the desk next to the occupied seat, eyes fixed on his superior “You need to rest.”
“Is everyone else down already?” The Captain asked taking a sip of his tea.
The lieutenant nodded and put his hand on the other man’s cheek “We’re the last ones up.”
“At least I have some great company…” he smiled leaving the cup on the desk and looking into Hinawa’s eyes “I’m finishing, promise.”
The man with the glasses leaned in for a kiss that could not be before the door was suddenly opened
“Captain Obi, I finished the last report if you want to-” Maki looked up from the papers she was holding to find both her superiors looking at her from the other side of the desk, drinking a cup of tea simultaneously. “Oh! Lieutenant Hinawa! I didn’t know you were both working late.”
“Fire Soldier Maki, I thought you went to sleep long ago.” The mentioned man replied adjusting his glasses “And that the rest of the reports were left for tomorrow.”
“Y-yes! I mean, sorry Lieutenant. I mean, I had finished everything else except this one and since I saw Captain Obi staying late again I thought I could just finish everything so I wouldn’t get behind on my paperwork tomorrow and could help the others if they needed…”
“At ease, soldier” Hinawa stopped her “You can’t be in trouble for doing your job…” he sighed “But you should be resting, there’s no need to overwork yourself…” he looked at Obi “We should all be resting…”
“Thank you, Maki, this is too much, you do a lot already.” The Captain stood up and took the report with a smile “The Lieutenant is right, we should all go to sleep to be ready for tomorrow.”
Maki smiled back and wished them both good night.
“This is your fault, you know it, right?” Obi chuckled and looked at the other man once the girl was far enough “You just trained her too well.”
Hinawa shook his head. Next time he would also train her to knock.
THREE – Before the alarm
It had been a couple of slow days, Firefighters had asked them help with two big fires that started in their district at the same time and an old lady called them by mistake about a fallen tree that was blocking her street. Paperwork wasn’t much either and peace and tranquillity was always well received in this line of work.
Shinra and Arthur were finishing their daily chores, Maki and Tamaki were in charge of today’s lunch, Sister Iris was praying and both Viktor and Vulcan were trying their own experiments in their own work stations. Hinawa had helped their resident engineer cleaning the equipment and was now giving everyone’s current status to the captain, who was watering his plants, pleased.
“The good thing of slow days in this kind of job is that it’s good news to the whole district.”
HInawa nodded “They are still expected to stay alert and show for their daily training, of course…”
“But they do have a little free time for themselves until this afternoon’s drill, right?” Obi asked not looking up
“We all do, if we finish our chores.”
Obi grinned
“Did you finish all your chores, Lieutenant?”
“Of course I did, sir.” Hinawa answered matter-of-factly, stepping closer “I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t.”
“What a coincidence” Obi said putting down the water can and turning around in the direction of the other man “I just finished my chores too.”
“Convinient” the lieutenant expressed stoically leaving a small pause to get his point across “Did you stall until this point just to make this conversation more… dramatic?”
“Dramatic?” the taller man raised his eyebrows getting closer “I was merely waiting for your work-related update, how could I have known that I- we- had some free time otherwise?”
Hinawa looked mostly unimpressed. He left his clipboard on a table nearby without moving. He felt Akitaru’s hands lying comfortably on his body, one on his waist and the other on the side of his neck. He looked back at him.
“Dramatic.”
Obi’s laugh rumbled in his chest as he closed the remaining gap between the two. Hinawa rested one of his hands on his shoulder and the other on the back of his neck, tilting his head slightly, enjoying the well-deserved kiss shared in secret in the middle of the quiet, warm afternoon. Hinawa could feel Obi’s hand moving to circle his waist and bringing him closer, the kiss deepened and then-
The infernal’s alarm.
The kiss ended reluctantly, but abruptly.
“Guess time’s up”
Hinawa only grunted in response.
FOUR – After training
They had had a long morning drill after breakfast. Yesterday’s training had been cancelled due to an infernal attack and Hinawa had rescheduled it for today, for the whole morning. No one was really happy about it but no one was stupid enough to question the lieutenant.
It had been a very peaceful week besides one infernal and some other jobs here and there, and although they hadn’t skipped on any of their regular training except for work, Hinawa didn’t want them to slack off or to miss a good opportunity to try some new routines for the team to practice.
Training had lasted almost until midday. Hinawa planned it so everyone would have enough time to shower and rest before lunch would be ready. He even made sure to be the one in charge of the food so everyone else would have extra time to rest while he cooked. Obi had thought it cute and offered to help, which was the reason he was waiting for the other man to finish his stretching while everyone else was already in the showers.
“I can take care of lunch if you want to keep training longer” he offered while putting away some of the weights lying around.
“And miss showering and cooking with you?” Obi joked finishing his stretching and helping out.
“You mean showering in our communal showers where everyone probably just did and left a mess behind or cooking for the army of strays that eat for ten and are coincidentally the ones who left the mess in the showers?”
“Ah Hinawa, you really make our lives sound dreamy” The Captain laughed
“You are the one always saying I have a way with words…” The Lieutenant smiled back walking to the door “I was just trying to spare you but if you’ve finished and still have some energy left…”
“I can always keep training after I help you out.” he commented casually getting closer to the other man and grabbing his wrist to catch his attention before they left the solitude of the training room “And I always have energy left to be with you, even in our filthy showers and over-demanding lunch-making hours”
“Hm. Always have energy left to be with me” he echoed turning to face the taller man with his whole body, stepping closer to him “You even make it sound like fun. Maybe you are the one who has a way with words, Captain”
Hinawa was teasing him, Obi knew, but he just wanted to close the gap between them and kiss his partner, instead of answering he only smiled into the kiss.
In response, the shorter man moved both his hands into the other’s hips to bring both of them closer to the door, resting his own back on it. The hand who had been grabbing his wrist was now stroking his arm up and down slowly, and the other one had caressed its way up to his jawline. Hinawa hugged him tighter by the waist to push him closer and felt the approving growl against his own chest.
From the other side came a loud knock.
“Captain, is the Lieutenant with you?” came Maki’s voice accompanied by another knock too close to Hinawa’s ear “Everyone has already changed, should we help with lunch?”
Fire Soldier Maki, always so helpful. The Lieutenant sighed, arranged his glasses back into his eyes and moved both of them away enough to open the door.
“Don’t worry” he stated the second he could see her “The Captain and I were just finishing tidying up here, we’ll take a quick shower and get everything ready, enjoy your time to rest”
The girl smiled to both of them and left. He could feel his superior over his shoulder looking at her leaving their view before he sneaked a kiss on the back of his neck.
“So, quick shower in the filthy showers first, and then right into lunch before they eat us alive.”
The Lieutenant nodded and grunted in affirmation “And none of fun.”
FIVE – At the Captain’s room
Hinawa pressed his Captain against the man’s bedroom wall, kissing him. Obi’s hands roamed his bare torso to stop at his hips and turned them around. Hinawa used the opportunity to take off the other man’s t-shirt and throw it on the floor with his, abandoned long ago.
Obi started kissing his neck and Hinawa’s hand moved all the way down the taller man’s back to rest under the orange jumpsuit’s pants. Obi went back to his lips and Hinawa pressed the Captain against his own body as much as he could.
Suddenly there was a soft knock. They stopped, looked to the door, then back at each other. Hinawa started kissing him again, Obi complied.
Another knock. Obi turned again. Hinawa grabbed his buttcheek to keep his attention and shook his head once the other man was looking at him again. Then the voice came and they both knew there was no way out.
“Captain, are you there?” Iris soft question filled the room and said man bit his lip, looking guiltily at his partner.
“Yeah, one second sister” he sighed and gave one last chaste kiss before peeling himself off the other man and going for the door, opening it only enough to show part of himself. “Sister Iris,” he smiled “What’s the matter?”
“Ah Captain! Sorry to bother you!” she looked at him confused “Where you changing?”
Right, he was still shirtless.
“Sorry, sister” he apologized and closed the door again, Hinawa was giving him his t-shirt from behind the door, he put it on before opening again “Yeah, I was about to change, honestly I was considering taking a cold shower, with how hot it is tonight” he lied, smiling amused. From the corner of his eye he could see the hidden lieutenant crossing his arms, he was sure the man was rolling his eyes. In front of him, Iris, not wearing his own nun outfit due to the heat, thought it right and logic, and smiled back at him. “What can I help you with, sister?”
“Ah! Yes!” she said remembering why she came and looking down “Shinra, Arthur and Vulcan came back from their grocery shopping and uhm…”
“Did something happen? Did they start a fight?” the three of them were in charge of getting next week’s groceries, he knew they could do the job but it wouldn’t be the first time they started a fight and got kicked out of a place. Any and all three of them.
“No! I mean, probably…” she played with the hem of her shirt “They actually run into someone and, uhm, nee-san is in our kitchen.”
“What?”
Apparently Hibana “have been around” and “stumbled upon the rookies” which most likely meant she saw the matchbox on her way to Company 8 and found Shinra there, then deciding to follow them and do the shopping for whatever she had decided to cook herself.
Obi just stood there, his vision was half an apologetic Sister telling a story, half a shirtless lieutenant shaking his head.
“Okay, then…” he started not sure what people did in these situations, if these situations had ever happened to someone else “Is she cooking for the whole company? Let her, I guess…? If that’s all…”
“Oh no,” Iris said before he could finish this conversation, he should had known that wasn’t all “Nee-san is waiting for you, she send me to tell you that if she’s cooking for all your strays you should at least make yourself useful and follow her every order in the kitchen… H-her words, not mine!”
“Of course,” Obi answered turning slightly to the side. Hinawa’s look was a weird mix of downright murderous and somewhat resigned to this being his life. The Captain sighed “tell her I’ll be there in 10”
He smiled and the nun went back the way she had come while he closed the door. Hinawa moved through the room freely once again and picked up his t-shirt. He put it on going back to the captain who was resting against the door defeated; the taller wrapped him by his waist as he rested his hand on his shoulder. They kissed one last time.
“This is not our week.”
SIX – At the park
After what had actually been a lovely dinner by Princess Hibana, Lieutenant and Captain checked what had been bought from the original list and what hadn’t. Shinra and Arthur had apologized for not fulfilling their task properly but they understood Hibana, as a captain and just by sheer personality, was not the kind of woman who would have accepted a no for an answer. There was really nothing to do about it but check what was missing and go shopping again the next day, so they did, only this time it would be done by the captain and the lieutenant, since Shinra and Arthur had that day off.
They could never park the Matchbox close to the shops, so they usually looked for a spot near the park, one block away. Today was no different, they bought everything they were missing and were carrying all the bags back to their vehicle, which wasn’t as hard considering the shopping list had been shorter than yesterday and the captain could carry his weight in grocery bags.
As always, they took their way back through the park instead of around it, choosing one of the less crowded paths trying not to bother others with their bags, not that it was particularly crowded, they were just used to do it that way.
They were talking about what should be done the rest of the day when Obi tripped and almost fall, losing one of the bags in the process. Although he knew he had tripped with someone’s leg stretched in the middle of their path, he still turned around to apologize for kicking whoever was sitting on the park bench. What he didn’t expect was to recognize the couple that had been clearly snuggling and now were looking at him petrified.
“Arthur…? Shinra…?” at the sound of his name, the Devil of Company 8 shoved his partner so far Arthur fell to the floor
“C-captian! Lieutenant!” he stuttered jumping up to salute them almost shaking “I-it’s not what it looks like!”
There was a small pause.
“It looks like you were having a date at the park and didn’t think this is the path we usually take on our way from getting groceries” the lieutenant stated, no change in his voice.
The pause now stretched enough for Arthur to stand up next to Shinra and answer himself.
“Guess it’s exactly what it looks like.”
The confirmation seemed to break something that was still in the silence; Shinra was looking back and forth, like he couldn’t decide what was more important, hitting Arthur or apologizing to their superiors.
“W-we are sorry!” Shinra bowed his smile so big it hurt to see.
“We are?” Arthur echoed confused
“We were just- I mean it’s just- Please don’t kick us out of the Company” he blurted, eyes pressed close “It won’t happen again!”
“It won’t?” the blond asked “Are you breaking up with me?”
“What? No! Of course not!”
“Stop” Hinawa interrupted them before they blow it out of proportion, they both stood straight, the lieutenant sighed “We don’t care”
“You don’t?”
Obi smiled amused, first to the lieutenant, then at them.
“We truly don’t”
They both sighed relieved.
“Not that we thought that you were going to judge us, but we didn’t know if uhm… relationships between members of the company were allowed.”
“If it doesn’t affect your performance at work it has nothing to do with us.”
“And I don’t think you dating could affect work more than your constant fights so…” Obi joked “Although if those were a way to cover up I’m glad the secret is out…”
“Oh no, he really is an infuriating idiot.” Shinra deadpanned pointing at Arthur with his thumb
“We cannot explain it either.” Arthur shrugged grabbing the other boy’s accusing hand.
Shinra looked at the king’s action almost transfixed and then also shrugged. Obi and Hinawa looked at each other.
“O… kay… That’s…” the captain looked at them and back at the lieutenant.
“We’re happy for you.” Hinawa said pushing his glasses up, ‘probably’ was best left unsaid.
Obi nodded with a smile. They weren’t there to judge their soldiers' relationship, even if they didn’t fully understand it. They did always help each other and stood by the other’s side at the end of the day so whatever it was that kept them together had led them to this, if they were happy it was more than enough for the captain.
Both boys ended up helping them carrying the groceries back to the matchbox and accepted the ride home although both superiors had assure them they could keep on with their date and that it was still their day off even if they went back to the Cathedral.
Once they were back Shinra had apologized once more.
“We weren’t trying to trick you or anything…” he said looking down “It’s just…”
Shinra shrugged, neither he nor Arthur were meeting their eyes and the captain understood they really had nothing they could say. They had probably talked about it at the back of the matchbox on their way back and still though that they owned them an explanation, which truly, they didn’t. Obi took pity on both of them and put a hand on each of their shoulders.
“It’s okay to wanting to keep things private, you don’t have to share your relationship with anyone if you don’t feel comfortable doing so.”
“Oh but we’re not ashamed. We don’t care if you know.” Arthur answered confused looking up, like he wasn’t just apologizing next to his boyfriend for the second time “Although it might be awkward for others to suddenly know, we just didn’t want you to think we were actively lying to you. We kept it privately mostly because it wasn’t something about work but then it sort of became a habit not to tell… And probably wouldn’t know how to approach the subject if we had to.”
The blond boy turned his head to his partner as if asking for approval. Shinra nodded looking actually impressed. Both Obi and Hinawa shared the feeling.
“Well then…” Obi grinned “I guess congratulations are in order and…” he looked at Hinawa who was smiling softly at his left “We do understand that feeling too. Maybe too well even,” he chuckled “so stop worrying about it, we get it.”
“We really do.” Hinawa reinforced walking one step closer to the captain and putting a hand on his shoulder, they smiled at each other before he looked at the soldiers again “Now go enjoy the rest of your day, we appreciate your help and that you shared your relationship with us, but there is no need to spend your time off helping us in the kitchen.”
“That’s right! Go have fun kids, just be careful and take care.”
“Yes sirs!” they said in unison and started walking out.
Outside the door, they could hear Arthur said a little ‘I told you so’ to Shinra about how they hadn’t opposed to their partnership and Shinra reluctantly accepting his defeat, this time.
“Although I wonder what they meant about getting the feeling…” the king added confused once again.
“Well they are clearly very emphatic leaders…” the devil answered while walking further away.
In the silence left in the kitchen said leaders looked at each other.
“That one is on us.” Obi sighed “We should know by now not to be subtle with those two.”
“Leave them. They will notice… someday… probably…”
“Someone will probably tell them one day or another…”
“Probably Maki.”
“The second she finds out herself.”