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Komaeda was very excited to be at Sea World.
However, when he left Hinata at the manta ray petting tank for about ten minutes to get snacks at a nearby food stall, he definitely wasn’t expecting to come back to see Hinata being hauled away by Sea World security.
Komaeda rushed over to Hinata, who was flanked on both sides by two security guards and spitting obscenities at another young man, who was also being grabbed by a security guard. The other man’s nose was bleeding, and Komaeda could roughly guess what happened before anyone said anything.
“I’m sorry, what’s the problem here?” he asked one of the security guards grabbing Hinata, as politely as he possibly could.
“Nagito, this is—” Hinata started, only to be interrupted.
“This your friend?” the security guard asked, jostling Hinata, who glared at him.
“Boyfriend.” Komaeda wasn’t be sure if he should be proud of that right now or not.
“Your boyfriend just physically assaulted that man,” the other security guard chimed in, confirming Komaeda’s suspicions.
“He was the one who did the assaulting first!” Hinata protested, gesturing to the man being restrained across from him.
“Regardless, we’re taking you both in,” the guard responded.
“Ah—wait, please,” Komaeda started, smiling placatingly. “Is that really necessary? I’m sure all of us would rather not make a big deal out of this. It sounds like they both got even with one another. Maybe we can spare everyone the paperwork and settle it ourselves?”
The guards seemed to falter at that. Komaeda was hoping they would, since they probably didn’t want to have to go through all of the protocols that were required for this sort of thing, anyway.
“It depends if this guy wants to press charges,” said the guard holding on to the man with the bleeding nose.
“I wouldn’t recommend it,” Hinata said nastily.
The man with the bleeding nose was silent for a few moments. But it seemed he agreed with Hinata, because he nodded and said, “It’s fine. Let’s just forget about it.”
Hinata actually looked pretty annoyed about that, rather than relieved, but he didn’t say anything. The guards escorted the both of them to the gates before letting go, with only a warning not to come back inside the park or they would be apprehended.
Komaeda let out a tense breath of air he didn’t know he had been holding. It was probably more due to his own good luck than anything else that the guards let Hinata go. “Hajime, what just happened?”
Hinata looked at him and his annoyed expression faded into a rather sheepish one. He lifted an arm to awkwardly scratch the back of his neck. “Well… you left, and you’re like eighty-five percent of my impulse control.”
“I know, but I didn’t think you’d actually punch someone in Sea World.”
“He was abusing the manta rays!” Hinata said loudly. “Can you believe that guy? He was just like, manhandling them, and I told him to stop and he told me to mind my own business—so—really, I mean, what else could I have done?”
Komaeda nodded. “Ah, well, in that case, I guess you’re right.”
“Are you being sarcastic?”
“No, I mean it.” Komaeda handed over Hinata’s portion of the food he had bought as they started walking to their car. “He deserved it. I can see why you’re annoyed that they let him go. I hope he doesn’t do something like that again.”
“Yeah, it’s annoying, but—thanks for bailing me out.” Hinata accepted the food with a small smile. “And sorry I got us kicked out of Sea World.”
“It was for a good cause,” Komaeda said. “But I guess this does mean I won’t be able to leave you alone anymore when we go out in public.”
Hinata leaned closer, brushing their shoulders together as they walked. “I wouldn’t mind that so much.”
Komaeda took a bite of his food to hide his smile. “I guess there are worse things.”