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Aoba was late.
He was about to leave for an A-rank mission, which entailed returning a forbidden scroll stolen from the village archives, tracking the shinobi responsible for the crime and light interrogation. It was suspected the culprit was a Konoha nin, so finding them was a primary concern. They had a balanced team to look out for every aspect: Aoba played a major role in securing their route and tracking the enemy.
This was important. Of course he knew that.
But he was still running late.
Why? Well… there was no good reason for it. No real reason, anyway. It was just that he'd stayed the night at his boyfriend's place, cooked dinner with him, made love to him, and fallen into the best slumber he'd had in ages. His own bed was pleasant enough, but nowhere near as comfortable as his lover's arms.
And even though he had initially woken up on time, he'd found himself enraptured in the sleeping form of the man he loved. Unable to remove himself from next to him until it was already too late.
And now, he was running.
Thankfully his hair, short and spiky as it was, held no clear signs of waking up last minute. His necessities were pre-packed the night before and he was wearing the most standard Jounin uniform. So, while he was certainly out of breath running to the Eastern Gate of the village, he still managed to look somewhat professional.
When he arrived, Genma and Raidou were already waiting. Raidou was an unsurprising choice for their four-man squad, considering how well his and Aoba's skills and techniques complimented each other. Genma, as an older member of the Hokage's Guard, had expertise in several areas and terrifying accuracy with his weapons. They were only missing Ibiki, assigned as their Team Captain for this mission - since his many years of experience easily outranked the rest - with his role as interrogator.
"Oi!" Aoba yelled as he met up with his comrades. "Glad to see I wasn't the last to arrive."
"You are," Genma replied bluntly, rolling the senbon in his mouth. "Ibiki just went back to retrieve some updated intel from Shizune."
"Oh. Ah, well," he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "It's still unlikely for the target to be compromised, right?"
Raidou shrugged. "I suppose so. Though with these kinds of rats, you can… never…" his words trailed off once he turned to properly face Aoba. It almost looked like all rational thoughts left him in the blink of an eye. His expression twisted into something downright ridiculous as he blindly grabbed onto Genma's wrist.
This, in turn, made Genma turn around as well - and he immediately bit the inner side of his cheek, as if to hold back laughter. The pair stared incredulously, seemingly mesmerized in Aoba's very presence.
A sudden feeling of panic hit him like a brick, and he felt his pulse speed up.
"Is… everything okay?" he asked, feigning nonchalance. "Is there something on my face?"
He didn't get to hear a reply, though, as Ibiki rushed to them at that exact moment. All three stood in position.
"Good, Yamashiro decided to grace us with his presence," he laughed dryly. "Alright. We gained an updated status on the enemy's hideout, so we'll adjust our plans accordingly. Apparently the traitor is meeting with his accomplices on the borders of Yugakure, so we've contacted locals of our approach."
Aoba nodded firmly, doing his best to stay focused. He couldn't help but notice, however, that his teammates were still giving him funny looks and snickering under their breaths.
"Seriously, what's wrong with you two?" he whispered, only barely hiding his nervousness. "What's so damn funny?"
"You're asking us?" Genma whispered back, absolutely cackling with amusement.
"Obviously!" he whined, confusion and desperation written all over his face. "You're looking at me like I just grew a second head!"
"That's a bit far-fetched," Raidou leaned in, sharing a knowing look with Genma, "but you do kind of look like you got h-"
"Are you three even listening?"
Genma turned his attention back to Ibiki and cleared his throat, resuming his official ANBU persona.
"Of course, sir. Once our unit arrives in the aforementioned location, I disassemble the enemy's aerial defence. Then, Raidou will obtain the target whilst loverboy " he gave Aoba a dirty grin "will provide a distraction. Ground defence will be disarmed on demand."
Aoba felt his cheeks redden as Genma glanced back, his eyes trailing over his features. Absent-mindedly he raised his hand over to his collar, thinking he was sporting a hickey or another awkward lovemark. This only appeared to wind his friends up more. Silently, he bit his lip, deep in thought.
Of course . He was being punked. His friends were toying with him and like a fool, he'd fallen under their ruse. Clearly, there was no other explanation. This was just how they wanted to diffuse the tension before a mission like this. Aoba grinned to himself, proud for seeing through their hijinks.
"You-" he began, forcing a chuckle out to try to regain his chill composure. "You two really are something else! As if I was hooking up with someone right before a mission…"
"Oh? You're calling us liars?" Raidou raised an eyebrow, his voice now more stern and yet still unable to keep a straight face.
"Well, I know I'd never be so unprofessional," he turned to look at Raidou, teasingly, "but maybe some of us might be."
Raidou's eyes widened slightly at the implication - almost back to his usual, serious demeanor for a second - before the corners of his mouth began twitching again and he covered it with his hand.
"Yeah, okay. Sure. Keep telling that to yourself, Romeo."
Genma took a step back at that, tuning his attention away from Ibiki once again. "How's my former teammate doing, by the way?"
What?
"What are you-"
Ibiki's booming voice, now dripping with annoyance, interrupted their furious whispering once again.
"If you're finally done gossiping over Yamashiro's new glasses, or whatever other pointless subject you have, I suggest we start moving."
This - now this made Aoba's blood run cold. The affirming voices of his teammates sounded distant as his pulse hammered in his ears. Hesitantly, his hand rose to fumble onto his face, tracing the rim of his spectacles. Truly, the shape was not the same, and the material felt off to his touch.
Only then did it actually sink in.
"Oh."
In his hurry, he had accidentally grabbed Ebisu's pair from the nightstand.
Aoba's blush only grew deeper as his comrades finally lost it, bursting out laughing at his priceless expression.
He'll never live this down, will he?