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They take an employee vacation.
“This is going to be docked from your paycheck.” Akiko declared. She’s always got this strange sense of glee whenever she bosses over the two of her employees, which is a little odd, but alright. It’s not like they have a lot of cases anymore, now that Fuuto is a much more peaceful place. Of course, there are still incidents with Gaia Memories, but they come few and far between these days.
Akiko would argue that the lack of cases means the shortage of income, which really means they shouldn’t take days off, but she’s usually all bark. Shoutarou thinks she just likes having something to complain about.
On their day off, he brings Philip to the local movie theater early in the morning and buys them popcorn and drinks. It’s a little chilly in the small theater, with the air con on full blast. Only a few seats are occupied.
They watch a movie about a pair of detectives who tend to approach cases with different points of view. The detectives get into an argument around the midpoint of the story, then later make up and learn to accept each other’s quirks. “Thank you.” Sonozaki Wakana’s face appears on screen, a teary smile adorning her lovely face. She is the victim’s sister, and this is the only scene she will appear in.
Shoutarou takes a moment to peer over at Philip.
His face is completely neutral as he crunches on the last of the popcorn.
Maybe he messed up.
But Philip doesn’t comment on it when they exit the theater. Instead, he says, “Why do people eat popcorn at the movie theater? It’s interesting, isn’t it?” And there is an alarming light in his eyes, so Shoutarou grabs his hand and hightails out the theater before he could go into full-fledged berserk mode. “Stay with me, alright?” He warns, just to make sure. “Then you can research whatever you like when we get home.”
“Okay.” Philip nods obediently, a rare display.
They go out, but they don’t go far. Partly due to the budget, partly because Fuuto feels right for a first outing, at least to Shoutarou. He grew up here, loves the city with his whole heart, and Fuuto has always supported him in return. It feels right.
Plus, Shoutarou knows Fuuto.
For lunch they eat on the road- some burger stand take-out, and walk around the streets. Many people call out to them, mostly to Shoutarou, because Philip didn’t really go out often enough to make acquaintances.
“This is my partner, Philip.” Shoutarou introduces him again and again, for the first time since Begin’s Night. They feel like long-overdue, because Philip surely knows Fuuto so well already. It’s about time Fuuto learned about Philip, too. He should leave a mark. He’s so relevant with the shaping of Fuuto.
This feels like a start.
Besides, Shoutarou is pretty sure Philip has never had to greet so many new people in a day before, actually learning about people in the flesh, instead of reading up on them. It should be a refreshing experience for him. That’s the main theme of the day, actually, familiar new experiences for Philip, that is. Shoutarou is quite proud of himself for coming up with that one.
Following that pattern, they eat an early dinner at the Fumen cart. This is the first time Philip is trying out their local civilian cuisine. It’s interesting to see the different emotions flash past his face: from tentativeness to confusion, to curiosity, to intrigue.
“Do you like it?” Shoutarou asks, entertained.
“I’ve never tasted anything quite like this flavor.” Philip says, voice laced with wonder.
“Glad you’re having fun.” He answers, and wonders if he might sound a little too fond. “There’s a lot of flavors you haven’t tasted yet.” He adds. “We’ll get to them eventually. One by one.”
They get ice cream after that, purple and green scoops to correspond with their signature colors, per Philip’s suggestion. They stroll along the beach, the evening wind salty in their faces.
“You could’ve just told me it was a date.” Philip says suddenly.
Shoutarou almost chokes on his ice cream. He takes a minute to cough it up, while Philip pats his back comfortingly. “Hey Philip.” He says. “You can’t just say something like that out of the blue.”
“No?” asks his partner innocently.
Shoutarou shakes his head firmly. “I thought I was going to die. Can you imagine dying on an ice cream cone? Is there a lamer way to go? I’ll be forever remembered as the hardboiled detective that died from a frozen treat, Philip. The sheer humiliation of that! Is that what you want, huh, Philip?”
Philip thinks about it. “It’s okay, Shoutarou. No one thinks of you as hardboiled, so it should be fine. There’s no guarantee you’d be remembered at all, anyway.”
“Harsh. To think you’d give me double damage!” Shoutarou laments. “This partnership is dead.”
“That would be bad.” Philip widens his eyes. “I haven’t even figured out your motive for today yet.”
It’s just like Philip to prioritize such a thing, Shoutarou thinks. He’s not sure if he’s exasperated or not. Philip is not, has never been the sentimental type, so he thinks carefully how to put it in a way that would make clear sense to his partner.
“You didn’t really get the chance to go outside before.” Shoutarou explains. “I know you couldn’t, back when you were kept in the Sonozaki house, and the year after that, you were busy hiding from them as well. The year after that, well.” He trails off. It’s hard for him to talk about that year. “Point is, I think you should get to have fun once in a while. And I saw this movie was being rescreened, so…”
“Thank you.” Philip says. “It was nice seeing her.”
“Oh, good.” Shoutarou lets out a relieved breath. “I was a bit uncertain about that part in particular.”
“So it was a date.”
“I didn’t want to call it a-” He rubs at the back of his neck. He isn’t sure how to properly articulate his thought process, but taking your date to see the first and only movie his dead sister cameoed in isn’t exactly typical. Shoutarou sighs, and gives up. “You noticed.” He relents.
His ice cream has melted. He squats down and rinses the remaining sticky substance off his fingers with the sea water. Philip plops down next to him and follows suit.
“Even I would notice something like that, Shoutarou.” He says, looking at his partner pointedly.
“Oh?” Shoutarou retorts, mustering all the bite he has left in his awkward, twisted dignity in the form of a desperate tease. “Were you thinking about it? Been looking it up?”
Teasing has never worked on Philip.
“Yes.” answers his partner calmly. “But it looks like you beat me to the punch.”
And this is bad, isn’t it? Shoutarou can physically feel his face grow warmer and warmer. His tie feels suffocating all of a sudden, so he tugs at it, and oh god, his hat is skewed isn’t it? He reaches out to readjust it, hoping to readjust his racing heart at the same time. All the while, Philip watches him patiently. He looks amused, infuriatingly.
“How do you do that?” Shoutarou complains. “Just saying it outright? Aren’t you embarrassed?”
Philip blinks. “I don’t see a point in denying my own feelings when it’s clear that I feel attracted to you.” There is an entire galaxy in his eyes. “I appreciate you, and I want you to know. What’s there to be embarrassed about?”
“Oh god, stop.” Shoutarou groans, currently contemplating whether to dig a hole in the sand and bury himself alive.
“Huh.” Philip looks thoughtful. “Did I misunderstand anything?” He clasps onto Shoutarou’s hands abruptly. “Well, then, how do you feel about me, Shoutarou?” He asks earnestly. It’s dizzying, stifling, the way Philip acts like Shoutarou’s answer is the most important thing in the world right now.
“I…” Shoutarou’s voice catches in his throat.
At times like these he wishes he could have a fraction of Philip’s absolute rationality. Maybe he’d struggle much less. He thinks he’s way too old to be stuttering over his feelings. It’s sweet when a preteen does it, but isn’t it gross for a grown man in his mid-twenties?
Philip is not helping with the situation either. He holds on quietly, the inquiry lying heavy between the both of them. He looks like he holds all the time in the world in his sleeves. And there Shoutarou is, still hunting down words adequate enough to convey his feelings.
“To the end of time.” He admits finally, from the safety of behind his hat. “I want to walk with you til then.”
He hears Philip’s slow smile blossoming in his voice. “That’s lovely to hear.” His partner says, and rearranges his fingers so they’re slotted between Shoutarou’s instead. His clasp is sturdy, full of intent, and Shoutarou is surprised to discover that Philip’s hands are a bit bigger than his own. When Shoutarou finally looks up, he finds that the setting sun casts a soft orange glow over Philip’s face. It’s breathtaking.
“Shoutarou.” Philip calls, squeezes his hand gently, as if he could possibly lose Shoutarou’s attention.
“What is it, Philip?”
“There was one thing I came across when I was looking up dates.”
Shoutarou wheezes out a laugh. “Let’s hear it.”
“They usually include kisses.”
Ah, there’s no place to hide, is there? Philip is quite relentless when it comes to the pursuit of knowledge, after all. Shoutarou pushes his heels off the ground and places a kiss in the corner of his partner’s mouth.
He leans back, and hides a self-satisfied grin at Philip’s dazed look. “Well?”
“You missed, Shoutarou.” Philip says, and surges forward to knock his hat off.
The mint chocolate tastes too sweet on his lips.