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Team Akira was in the mess hall having dinner, though their carefree leader hadn’t joined them. Having stopped to talk to Semiu after their mission; sending his trio of children off to eat without him. Follo joined them as Gris had decided to wait behind with the other.
The mess hall was oddly empty, though their late mission was to blame for that. Having free range on table picking they decided on a larger one to support their group, most of them already busy with large plates of food. Riyo finally joins the crowd after filling her plate.
“Why does Enjin stay in Gris’s room?” Rudo suddenly asked, not caring enough to finish chewing before he spoke. The trio all look up to stare at him, then each other. Zanka and Follo share a look of disbelief. While Riyo was already finding amusement in it all, trying hard not to laugh: instead picking up her drink and trying to take a sip to cover her giggles.
“I’m just saying, he has his own room to himself. Why would he stay with Gris?” Rudo not picking up on their obvious confusion he continued, this time with no food in his mouth. Riyo, unable to stop herself, spat water across the table, glass slamming back onto the table. While Zanka only just dodged her spit assault, running a hand down his shirt, grumbling something about table etiquette.
“There is no way…” Follo stated, holding back his own laugh better than Riyo could. The girl having spiraled into a manic cackle.
“What the hell is so funny!” Rudo yelled, dropping his fork into his food, sauce all around his mouth. This only egged on the laughter, Follo joining in; though Zanka’s disappointment didn’t dwindle.
“All I did was ask a question! Quit laughing at me!” He yelled, slamming his gloved hands on the table. Dishes of food shaking, though the laughter didn’t stop.
“Yooo! What’s so funny, Rudo man?” August appearing out of nowhere as he asked, Rudo turned back to look at the designer with a nasty frown.
“Don’t tell him.” Zanka warned the two across from him, though the mischievous look Riyo sent him, he knew there was no way they were going to listen.
“Rudo is just wondering why Enjin and Gris share a room.” The girl paused her laugh to answer weirdly sweetly, yet her expression was rather sinister as she spoke. The designer automatically joined the crowd of laughter. Grasping onto Follo’s shoulder to level himself. Making efforts to say something to Rudo, though no words could be made out from his laughter.
Rudo got even more angry, looking similar to a growling dog as he clutched the table. While Zanka at this point had scooted away from the chaos, focused on eating his food, not wanting any part of what was going on.
The door swung open revealing the subjects of the conversation. Enjin, who was already out of his uniform, trailed by Gris who had also changed. Both looked confused at what they had just walked in on. Rudo automatically dropped back into his chair, taking one look at the two men before avoiding all eye contact.
“Sooooo, what’s going on in here? Did I miss something?” Enjin asked, planning to get food later as he slid into the chair next to Rudo. The boy tried to scoot away towards Zanka, though being stopped when Gris dropped in on his other side.
“It’s not nice when not everybody is laughing.” Gris advised, Follo straightened out when he heard that, finding his food to be rather interesting in the moment: though the other two didn’t seem to mind.
“They're making fun of you Rudo?” Enjin asked, though Rudo put his head down unwilling to say anything to the man, which is when he turned to Zanka to get answers.
“Zanka, don't tell him.” Rudo grumbled, though there was no way he was going to go against Enjin.
“Rudo was just wondering why you and Gris share a room.” The older boy said plainly, holding his sleeve up to cover his mouth. Rudo glaring at him while the whole table went silent just to see the two older men’s reactions.
Enjin after a while broke out into a heavy laugh, placing a hand onto Rudo’s shoulder to steady himself. Coughing as he continued to laugh. Gris just grinned, ruffling Rudo’s hair who sat still heavily confused; though embarrassed on top of that.
“Oh Rudoooo!” Enjin heaved, as he continued to laugh, “That, that was a good one.” clapping onto Rudo’s shoulder, calming down as he took a few deep breaths, “You really got me there for a second.” Waiting for the boy to say something, though looking down to see his head was still bowed, ears tinted red.
“Holy shit! You really don’t know!” He gasped, Rudo looking up at him embarrassed, Enjin just seemed to now need a moment to think.
“You know this makes sense, this must be some stupid spherite shit or something.” Enjin pointed out Rudo watching him with a frown, not a fan of being talked about.
“What is it dipshit, you don’t gotta rub it in!” Rudo yelled, slamming the table again.
“Me and Enjin are dating.” Gris announced, ending the Rudo torture, though he seemed to get more confused with the answer.
“Yeah some twisted sphere shit for sure.” Enjin confirmed Rudo's world expanding before his eyes as he thought about the new information he was given.
“Never thought the sphere was known for being open-minded, but that’s crazy.” Follo added, August still clinging to the other boy, seeming slightly bored now that the laughing was over.
“So wait, what does that have to do with them sharing a room?” And all eyes turned to Rudo again, August the first one to start laughing, followed by Riyo.
“Do you know what it means to date someone Rudo?” Enjin asked, unsure now if it was a sphere thing, or just a Rudo thing. Watching as gears turned in his head.
“Uhm, you like each other?” He answered, knowing that Regto had told him to ask Chiwa out, which meant they would have been “dating”. Though he wasn’t all too sure what that term even meant, neither with its correlation to sharing a room.
“Ohhhhh, our little innocent Rudo!” August sang while taking a break from laughing, Rudo about ready to climb over the table and beat his head in.
“It’s perfectly fine to not know, and you should be proud you’re able to admit that, since it’s the first step to being able to learn.” Gris chimed in, helping Rudo back into his seat and calming him down.
“But maybe it’s a conversation for another time…I kinda would like to eat.” Follo stopping them there, Enjin cackled; Gris looking at him endearingly, Rudo in between as he watched the exchange.
“Yeah, find me whenever and we can talk about it, okay Rudo?” Gris smiled, looking downward at Rudo. Who while heavily embarrassed about the whole experience, nodded and went back to eating his food.
The table falling back into a calm dinner, conversations and jokes being flung around. And during it all Enjin’s hand fell back and found Gris’s; squeezing it for a second as they looked at the little family they had built.