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Shu stares at the pastry case.
The pastry case seems to stare back.
This shouldn't be difficult. Shu's studied aliens and kaiju extensively, trained so much that he can disable a grown man in ten ways, and can tell the quality of coffee beans with a sniff — something as simple as buying a pastry for Yuma should be easy. It certainly shouldn't be this hard, and yet.
He tries to remember everything he's ever noticed Yuma eat — he's more fond of Japanese sweets than he is Western ones, isn't he? Perhaps he's looking at the wrong kind of bakery altogether. Then again, Shu's at the best bakery in Hoshimoto City; if it's from here, surely Yuma will enjoy it regardless of his personal tastes. Of course, there's also the matter of what would pair well with tea. Shu never drinks it, so he wouldn't know where to start, but the chances of Yuma drinking it with tea are fairly high —
"Um," says a voice from behind Shu. "Excuse me?"
He turns around. The man standing behind him looks to be a few years older than Shu himself; he's dressed casually, and Shu recognizes the logo on his T-shirt as that of the DoReMiFa Beat series of video games. Hoshimoto City certainly isn't the biggest place that Shu's ever lived in, but he doesn't recognize this person at all; still, he clearly has kept the other man from ordering.
Shu awkwardly clears his throat. "My apologies. If you already know what you want, by all means —"
"I was going to ask if you needed help, actually," the man interrupts, with a small smile. "I take it you're not one for sweets?"
"Oh," Shu says, awkwardly — he wasn't expecting someone to offer to help him, and he certainly wasn't expecting someone who doesn't seem to work at the bakery in the first place to offer it to him — but perhaps it's a hidden blessing. (That, and the man's smile seems so kind, so genuine — it's a bit like Yuma's, in a way. However, Shu clamps down on this thought before it can go any further.) "I suppose it must be obvious. A... colleague of mine recently was discharged from the hospital, and I wanted to get him something as a gift, but..."
The man's eyebrows raise just a little at the word colleague. For a moment, Shu feels exposed, like he's been caught in a lie (though it wasn't like he was lying about anything — Yuma is his colleague, after all. They're colleagues, and perhaps close ones, but... colleagues, and nothing more; he's not exactly comfortable with the way the mere suggestion of them being something that isn't colleagues makes something in his chest twist), but the smile is back on the stranger's face a moment later. "Well, I'm not sure about your colleague's tastes, but you can't go wrong with the cream puffs from here," he says, after a moment. "My boyfriend loves them, and he knows what he's doing, when it comes to pastries."
The look on the stranger's face, as he recalls his partner, is fond; Shu almost feels like he should be looking away. "Do you think they'd pair well with tea?" he asks, instead, pushing up his glasses.
The man's brow furrows. "Well, he usually eats them with coffee... but the flavor's pretty light. I think you'll be alright. Oh, and there's a pair set, with these — that's what I'm here to pick up, actually," he adds.
"A... pair set," Shu repeats, blankly. The intent would be obvious, but — "Surely that isn't... too...?" He can't finish the question; he's not sure what he wanted to say. Forward? Much? Weird, for a gift for someone who is, ostensibly, just a colleague — which is another train of thought that Shu shuts down, for fear of where it could lead.
The man gives Shu a knowing smile. "He'll appreciate it," he says, his voice reassuring. "And I think you will, too."
"I... will?" Shu repeats.
"...Trust me on this one," the man says. He still has that look in his eye, and Shu "I'll let you peruse some more, but... I hope your colleague likes it." With that, he pulls out the latest model of the GenmBoy, leaving Shu to his selection.
"Thank you," Shu makes sure to say, as he is grateful for the advice. He does end up ordering the pair cream puff set; hopefully, its usefulness to Shu himself will become evident when he gives them to Yuma.
It's difficult to find time with Yuma alone — the rest of SKIP is, of course, extremely thrilled that he's back, and Shu...
He's still just a little bit — tentative, he supposes, about being able to join in on those festivities. There are too many thorns still lingering in his heart to feel... right about the almost familial nature of Rin, YouPi, and Chief Ban fawning over Yuma — he's not sure he could ever forget the words you're just like everyone else at the GDF, as much as he'd like to (and as much as Yuma had profusely apologized, when things with Givas had finally settled some), and there's a sense of alienation that he just can't seem to shake, despite everything.
And he knows, now that Onyx is taken care of, that if things stay quiet in Hoshimoto City...
...No. He won't think about that. In fact, the idea itself makes his stomach twist uncomfortably — he needs more coffee, suddenly, something to get his mind back to the problem at hand: figuring out just when he can give Yuma the cream puffs, tucked and hidden away in the office refrigerator.
He manages to get his opportunity at last at lunch — "Yuma-kun," he says, the moment Yuma stands up and announces that he's going on his meal. "I'll join you." He probably sounds too intense, and he nearly cringes at his own tone.
Yuma's eyebrows shoot up. "Really? ...I mean — I'd be happy to eat with you, Ishido-san!" he says, clearly a bit surprised — and embarrassed — by how excited he'd sounded at the beginning of his sentence.
Shu finds it hard to find a word to describe the flush that colors Yuma's ears red that isn't a synonym of cute.
He also notes that, from the corner of his eye, he can see the chief and Rin exchanging looks that he can't — or, well, would strongly prefer not to — read. "...But I'll, ah, make some more coffee, first," he says, a bit too quickly. "You go ahead."
"I'll be outside. The weather's still pretty nice, so we might as well, right?" Yuma adds, with a small nod. "See you there, Ishido-san."
As Yuma rustles through his bag for his bento and leaves the office, Shu promptly turns to the coffee maker — in part to make his hasty words true, in part to avoid whatever looks Rin and the chief could be exchanging now, and in part because he suddenly feels like he's going to need at least one extra cup to get through this. The familiar motions of measuring out coffee grounds and filling the pitcher with cold water calm the racing of his heart somewhat.
When he's got a full cup of coffee and the (...rather... romantic, Shu realizes — it's subtle, but the box is printed with ribbons and sparkles and... hearts — he nearly loses his nerve, when it abruptly occurs to him what the pair set he'd ordered had come in. But, well, he's already bought it; he can't turn back now) gift box from the refrigerator, along with his own lunch and some napkins for the both of them, Shu heads outside to join Yuma.
He clears his throat as he sits down; Yuma opens his mouth to greet him, but Shu starts talking before his coworker can speak. (It's a big enough box that he can't really hide it, anyway.) "I wanted to... get you something. Since you're out of the hospital," Shu adds, as if it's an explanation. He places the box on the table and smiles. "It's a relief to have you back at the office."
Yuma's eyes widen — "This bakery's, like, the best in the city — Ishido-san," he says, a smiling brilliantly. "Thank you. You really didn't have to get me anything..."
His smile softens, just a little. "You... were really worried about me, huh, Ishido-san?"
Shu blinks. "We all were," he says, automatically.
"Well, yeah," Yuma says, sheepishly. "But, well... Rin let it slip that you waited at the hospital more than anyone else did," he explains, avoiding Shu's gaze — which Shu finds himself feeling strangely grateful for, as it means he doesn't have to meet Yuma's. "So that, and now this... is it weird that I'm kind of happy? Not about you worrying, I mean, but..."
Shu stares down at his coffee. He can feel his cheeks warming; he prays the flush isn't too visible on his face. "I... did wait, yes," Shu says, thinking about how the rest of SKIP had gone back to the office after a few hours of no news.
Shu, though, had stayed — "Somebody... should," he'd said, his hands curling into fists at his sides. Even as the chief and Rin left, he'd sat in that hospital lobby, hands clasped, hoping for — something. Anything. Yuma. He'd returned to the office eventually, since preparing for whatever came next was more pressing than just Yuma's condition... but he'd spent at least an hour longer there than the rest of SKIP had.
"...Well, I should probably be thanking you," Yuma says, sheepishly. "It, um, it means a lot that you'd do that for me."
"Of course," Shu says, taking a sip of his coffee. Just as he'd hoped it would, it gives him the courage to lift his head up. He almost says something incredibly embarrassing — you're someone I value or I'm just so happy you're safe or even I don't think I've ever been that scared before.
But — luckily, perhaps, Shu doesn't get the chance. "So we're splitting these, right?" Yuma asks, then, smiling.
His words, like it's obvious that Shu bought those for the purpose of sharing them, send a flustered shiver down Shu's spine. "Oh," he says, as his brain works to process it. "It... is certainly a set of two," he adds, though he cringes internally at himself a moment later. Of course it's a set of two, that's obvious, really —
"Yeah," Yuma agrees, like he hadn't heard Shu's awkward observation at all. He takes one of the cream puffs out and puts it on a napkin, his eyes shining in that innocent, earnest way that always sticks itself in Shu's head so firmly that he simply has to write about it in his diary. "Here. And thank you again, Ishido-san. Let's eat!"
Shu nods, not trusting himself to not say something else ridiculous, and watches as Yuma takes a bite. "Whoa," he says, his eyes widening, as he swallows the bite. "These are awesome — Ishido-san, try yours," he adds, gesturing at Shu's.
"Yes," Shu says, a bit too rigidly, before picking the pastry up. As he takes a small bite, his eyebrows shoot up — it's an incredibly well-made pastry, with a perfectly flaky outside and a light, creamy flavor that would pair excellently with a good cup of a light roast. (A similarly light feeling settles in Shu's chest, but he's aware that that has much more to do with the company he's with.) "This bakery's reputation is well-earned," he says, almost to himself.
"Right? I don't think I've had anything from there since... man, when I started college," Yuma notes, with a soft, nostalgic smile. "My grandma was so excited that I'd be studying kaiju and helping people..."
"I'm sure you've made her proud," Shu says, the corners of his own lips turning up. I'd like to meet her, someday, he thinks, before he remembers that this gift is one that precedes an inevitable goodbye. He takes another bite, to distract himself — perhaps too big of a bite, but at least that means his mouth isn't betraying him.
That, however, proves to be an action with consequences. "Ishido-san," Yuma says, suddenly —
— and then he's reaching across the table, his thumb brushing the corner of Shu's lips for just a second. Shu blinks, and blinks again, his thought processes completely halting at that touch; it's only there for a moment, but it feels like an eternity passes before Yuma withdraws his hand, wiping it on a napkin before he seems fully aware of what he's just done.
"...Oh! I'm — I turned into my grandmother for a second, there," Yuma finally says, with a shy, unmistakably adorable laugh. "She always does that when I have sauce on my face, and you... there was... cream. I'm sorry for, uh —"
"It's alright," Shu finds himself saying, a little bit too quickly. There's a heat where Yuma's touch had just been that he has the sneaking suspicion is going to linger for longer than he'd like; it isn't unpleasant, however. "Thank you, Yuma-kun."
"Y-yeah," Yuma says, with a small nod. "Anyway, we should, uh, get back to eating?"
"Yes," Shu agrees. The rest of their lunch passes much like their usual morning commute does — the two of them discuss kaiju, and Yuma asks about the GDF, and Shu goes on a tangent about coffee that leaves Yuma incredibly confused. It feels so ordinary, and yet, Shu finds himself unexpectedly happy; I should eat lunch with Yuma-kun more often, he thinks, before reminding himself that his new orders will be coming any day now.
(He's always known that the two of them would only be colleagues for the duration of his mission; he's always known that he'd have to leave this wonderful city, and the amazing people he's met at SKIP, behind. And yet, as Shu has an ordinary conversation with Yuma, the fear he feels about leaving only grows. If he could do this every day — working here, being with Yuma, and Rin and the chief and YouPi, sharing desserts and slowly convincing the rest of SKIP to try coffee, getting to know more and more about the people of Hoshimoto city....
...There's no point dwelling on it. At the end of the day, Shu is a professional, and the nature of his career is one that means he can't stay anywhere for too long. His life's been like that for so long that he's far more used to leaving than he is staying... anywhere, really.
But when that goodbye comes, he'll at least make sure to do it in person; he can't have a repeat of his day in the city, after all. For now, he focuses on being a good conversation partner to Yuma. Shu's sure he'll treasure this memory; he might as well make it a good one.)
"Yuma-kun, you don't have to treat me —"
"I want to," Yuma insists, smiling. "Since you're... y'know. Staying."
Shu looks down and tries not to let his face turn red. He'd been surprised at how relieved Yuma had seemed, when he'd let Yuma know the good news; his insistence on getting Shu a treat from the bakery, along with a promise to buy Shu coffee with it, is far more than he could imagine.
He's certainly not complaining, though. "If you insist," he says, with a soft smile; he has the urge to pat Yuma's head, which he quashes by adjusting his glasses, instead. Yuma beams, and Shu has to look away, but the two of them still manage to successfully enter the bakery.
As they do, Shu's eyes widen — the man from the other day is there, Genmboy in hand. He looks up at the sound of the bakery's bell ringing, and as his gaze falls on Shu and Yuma, a knowing smile crosses his face. "Ah — you're the guy who needed help the other day," he says. "How'd it go? With the pair set."
Yuma's eyes widen, and he turns to Shu. "It was a pair set?"
"It was," Shu says, quickly clearing his throat. "I'd like to thank you for your recommendation, in fact, Mr...?"
"Hojo Emu, but just Emu is fine," the man introduces, shaking Shu's and Yuma's hands. He cocks his head at the cash register, where another man — dressed far more formally than Emu is, Shu notes, though he also doesn't seem to be wearing a full suit — is talking vigorously with the cashier. "And that's the boyfriend I mentioned. We work together at Seito University Hospital."
"It's nice to properly meet you," Shu replies; the name of the hospital does ring a faint bell. "I'm Ishido Shu, from the GDF, and this is the... colleague, that I mentioned. SKIP's very own Hiize Yuma."
"Nice to meet you!" Yuma adds, as Emu shakes his hand. He looks over at where this boyfriend is animatedly talking about the composition of a cream puff's filling, and playfully elbows Shu in the side. "He sounds kind of like you when you're talking about coffee, Shu-san."
Shu-san. It had been Shu himself that gave Yuma permission to use his first name, and yet, he's still not used to the way it sounds in Yuma's voice. He's always been refreshed by the sound of Yuma's good morning, and of course, the way Yuma had sounded saying Ishido-san was incredibly charming.
But Shu-san, in that voice... it takes him a moment to even remember to clear his throat. "I understand his passion, even if mine is directed elsewhere," he says, when he's sure that he can.
Emu gives Shu a knowing smile. "It took me a while to get used to Hiiro calling me by my name, too," he admits. "It was always intern for so long that I'd almost given up hope..."
"...Is that so," Shu replies, figuring that it's likely that this Hiiro is the man at the register and aware that Emu is implying something, but unable to identify what it is precisely. "Well, regardless — you should know your advice was a great help," he adds, quickly, feeling the need to get the conversation going into an entirely different direction, for the sake of his own sanity. "Thank you."
"Yeah, thank you!" Yuma adds, grinning. "They were super good."
"I'm glad to hear it," Emu says. "Anyway, so you two —"
"Emu," says a serious voice — it seems that, in the time it had taken for Shu to remember how to speak and steer their discussion elsewhere, Emu's boyfriend had finished talking with the cashier and walked to his side.
Emu takes the man's hand in his, so naturally that Shu finds himself unable to tear his eyes away from that display of affection for a moment too long. "Hiiro — remember the guy I was telling you about the other day? The one who kinda made me think of you?" he asks, gesturing at Shu with his free hand.
Shu opens his mouth to introduce himself and Yuma again, but Hiiro speaks before he has the chance. "Have they started dating?" he asks, as if that's all the context he needed —
— and then, what he actually asked hits Shu's brain. "That's," he begins, his composure scattering before he has the chance to gather it. "Yuma-kun and I, we're not —"
"We aren't dating yet," Yuma adds, quickly, before his own eyes widen; the implications of that word seem to hit Yuma at the same time they hit Shu, who adjusts his glasses in an attempt to calm down. (Yet? Has the thought of a relationship like that, with him, Ishido Shu, previously crossed Yuma's mind? Shu's sure that he won't have enough courage to bring it up, but now that the seed has been planted in his mind, he's not sure he'll have the will to ignore it.) "It's not that — I mean, yet, i-it's not like —"
"It's — we're — coworkers," Shu finishes. "Colleagues."
Yuma nods. "Shu-san's going to be staying with us over at SKIP for longer than we thought, so I wanted to get him something to celebrate," he adds. "That's all."
"I see," Hiiro says. "It seems your diagnosis was correct, Emu." His face doesn't betray any emotion, but something in the way he looks at Emu betrays an incredible fondness; it's familiar, Shu realizes, because he's almost certain that he's looked at Yuma the same way.
"Right?" Emu replies, grinning affectionately back. "Anyway — we'll let you two take your order, but it was nice properly meeting you both."
"Yeah!" Yuma agrees. "I'm not sure if doctors or nurses really need help with kaiju, usually... but if you do, your local branch of SKIP is there to help."
"And if you two ever get beat up in your line of work, feel free to stop by Seito." Emu squeezes Hiiro's hand again and nods. "See you!"
As Shu watches the couple exit the bakery, he lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He opens his mouth — he should apologize, shouldn't he, for putting Yuma in such an uncomfortable situation —
"That was really something, huh, Shu-san?" Yuma says. "Those guys assuming that we're... y'know." He gestures in front of him in a way that Shu is sure means a couple.
"...Something, indeed," Shu agrees. He adjusts his glasses then pockets his hands to prevent himself from doing so again. "Shall we order?"
"Oh! Y-yeah, yeah, we should," Yuma says, sounding grateful at the reminder. "Get whatever you want, Shu-san, really —"
"I was hoping for another pair set of those cream puffs, actually," Shu interrupts, surprising himself at his own smoothness. He thinks about that yet that had escaped from Yuma's lips; perhaps it wouldn't be crossing a line to suggest it. "We could... even split them again, if you'd like."
The smile that crosses Yuma's face is nearly too much for Shu to handle; it makes his chest fill with warmth. "That — that sounds great, Shu-san," he says, as eager as ever, before he walks up to the cash register.
(Shu thinks to himself, vaguely, that Emu had been correct about the pair set being beneficial to him, too.)
"...Think those two are going to figure themselves out?" Emu asks, as the two of them walk hand in hand to where Hiiro's driver is waiting.
Hiiro pauses. Now that he's met the man in person, and learned his name through process of elimination, he can certainly see where the similarities lie. Of course, looking back on it now, Hiiro can admit that he'd had a longer way to go than this Shu seems to; the fact that Emu had stayed so patient with him, all that time, is something he's unspeakably grateful for. (And even after everything, getting to be by Emu's side, not just as another doctor, but as his boyfriend... it's something that the Hiiro from the past would never have bothered imagining, it was so unrealistic.)
For now, he just squeezes Emu's hand and smiles softly. "You figured me out," he says.
"That I did," Emu agrees, a note of pride in his voice.
"And if you managed that, then Yuma and Shu can manage each other." He squeezes Emu's hand again. "...Thank you," he adds, softly.
Emu smiles fondly. "Hiiro," he says, simply, raising their clasped hands to peck Hiiro on the palm. It's not too long of a walk until they get to where the car is waiting, and Hiiro reluctantly separates their hands.
And yet, the warmth from that physical affection lingers long after they've made it back to Tokyo. Hiiro's lips curl up, just a little. Perhaps there's no medical name for the way that Emu's touches always seem to ghost his skin far after they've stopped touching, but...
It's a good feeling. One of the best feelings Hiiro's ever experienced. It's all been worth it, to get to feel like this, he thinks.
He hopes that Shu eventually comes to the same conclusion.