Leaving the briefing, Maki returned to his office hoping Tatsumi would still be there. For some reason people seemed to be whispering, and none of them would actually look at him, though he honestly didn’t care.

Walking into his office, followed by Li, Maki made a beeline for his husband. Tatsumi standing up and opening his arms for the hug he knew was coming. Wrapping his arms around his husband, Tatsumi kissed his hair then asked

“You’re being deployed?”

“Yeah. Two weeks. We leave this afternoon”

He was supposed to be moving home. He and Tatsumi were going to try for little Yingtao and now he had to go away again

“You can’t help it. I had the strong suspicion”

“I don’t want to go. I want to go home with you”

Laughing, his precious husband nuzzled into the side of Maki’s head 

“I can wait”

“No. You keep waiting. I don’t want to go. I’m leading a team and I don’t want to go. I told you…”

Drawing back, Tatsumi looked down at him

“Babe, it’s your job. You’re going to be great out there. It’s a shit job, but I know you can do it”

“I know I can do it too… that’s not the problem. We said…”

“It’s another bump in the road. Just a little bump”

“I’m a team leader… I hate this”

Tatsumi knew what he’d been walking into. The same damn situation as the start of the year, only at a smaller scale. C3 had kept their base. Maki wouldn’t call anyone who wanted to walk away from shooting at citizens a coward. His husband pulled him back up tightly against him

“People are angry about being ignored. You’re not going there to do anything other than help be part of keeping the peace until negotiations end. Focus on keeping calm and coming home”

“Yeah. It’s shit timing. C3 is a damn pris-… sorry, I can’t…”

Maki was about to say that C3 housed a rather large prison population made up of people from the Desolate Belt. The information wasn’t available to the general public, and Tatsumi probably easily have made an educated guess from the half said “pris”. His poor husband would be putting up with a wreck when Maki did come home and was already worrying too much. Instead of continuing, Tatsumi changed the topic to give him an out 

“I get it. I made friends while you were gone. One will tell you later, and the other is Private Song. I don’t think she likes me that much”

Leaning back, Maki frowned

“Private Song came here?”

“Lu wanted you over something. She was worried about leaving me with sensitive documents. We ended up going around in a circle with me trying to reassure her I wasn’t going to steal them”

Old Man Lu wanted him? The alpha lighting up

“You have to meet him. Lu conducts all these funny experiments, and when you ask him he never explains himself. Last week he decided to try grow salt crystals with a paperclip. He made the whole process sound insane, then came out with that. I accidentally got stuck with him. He can talk, and talk, and talk… and I didn’t know how to get out of there. It turned out to be pretty fun”

“You’re good at getting stuck like that. When do you leave?”

And there went Maki’s enthusiasm as he slumped back against Tatsumi

“2 hours. Two weeks off world”

“You’ll need to check your mech, eat and get changed. Is there anything I can do for you while you’re gone?”

“Come with me?”

“I can’t do that. I meant more call Mina, or something”

“Can you message me? Like we used to?”

“Everyday updates?”

“Yeah. I can’t message back all the time but I don’t think I can calm down with what’s going on”

“You’re worrying too much. I feel much better now we’ve talked”

Maki sighed heavily. Two days didn’t fix a month of neglect…

“I’m not going to promise you a date, everytime I’ve tried to it’s had to be cancelled. Let’s do something spontaneous when I come back”

“Doesn’t that count as a date?”

“Nope because all I said was when I come back, not how long after. I will make it up to you”

“You have nothing to make up for, grandson”

From behind them, Li cleared his throat 

“Okay, that’s enough of this. What did you to Private Song? You better not have upset her. And, Tatsumi, where is my favour?”

Tatsumi laughed as he let Maki go. Maki didn’t want to let go, so he didn’t leaving his husband to lean around him 

“I haven’t forgotten you. Is there anything you want?”

“Home cooking?”

“Done”

“And Moon?”

“She doesn’t seem to like me. It’s not personal, it’s because there’s sensitive documents in here and she thought I would snoop if I used Maki’s desk”

“She has a…”

Li’s words died as Maki turned to glare at him. There was no way his husband would pry, and they both knew it. Li shifting his weight

“Come on, man. She doesn’t know Tats’ the way we do”

“If I say my husband can wait in my office then…”

Tatsumi cut him off

“Babe, it’s okay. She doesn’t know me, and there’s sensitive data. I understand”

Logic could kindly fuck off. Tatsumi had clearance to be on the base and everyone should know how amazing and honest his husband was. The alpha huffing

“But you’d never just help yourself”

“Not unless you were in trouble and we’ve agreed you’re staying out of trouble”

“For you and Yingtao”

“Exactly. Two hours isn’t a lot of time. You need to be prepared to go”

“I want to…”

“You want to spend them with me. I understand that, but I need you to make sure you’ve triple checked and will be prepared. Me and my omega need our loving alpha to come home to us”

Maki immediately lost his annoyance at Private Moon. Honestly, if she had been mean to Tatsumi he wouldn’t have been surprised. She seemed to dislike him as it was, which would obviously mean she’d dislike Tatsumi too

“I always will. There’s no way I’m leaving you out there to be claimed by someone else”

“You can’t promise always, but you can promise to try. I’ll let you get ready”

“No, don’t go already”

“It’s fine. Li, I’ll make a huge batch up for you of all your favourites freeze it. I’ll make the same for you, babe. I’m feeling better, I promise you that”

Maki relented. He believed Tatsumi’s promise

“Okay. But if you don’t or you have a wobble, then call me. Don’t hide it anymore”

“For you, I won’t. I love you”

“I love you, too. I’m so goddamn pissed I have to go when we were sorting things out”

“It’s how it is. Trust your instincts and your team. Yingtao”

Maki went dopey all over again, smiling like an idiot as he parroted back

“Yingtao. Wait, I’ll walk you off base”

“There’s no need. You get ready”

“Okay…”

“I’ll see you when I see you, and I’ll be waiting at our home”

Watching Tatsumi gather his things, Maki didn’t want him to go. He stood still, earning him a few kisses and a laugh before his husband left with a goodbye to Li on his way. Feeling Li’s eyes on him, Maki sighed

“I feel like there’s something you want to say” 

“I was thinking that Yingtao sounds like something happy. Maybe I should adopt it?”

Adopt their child?! Maki loved his best friend, but he wasn’t intending on having any form of situation where they left their child parentless

“Don’t you dare. You’ll know all about it when the time comes, until then it’s between and Tatsumi”

Li pouted and crossed his arms 

“You sounded so happy…”

“That’s because I am. Don’t go telling Tatsumi about where we’re going and what we’re walking into. He doesn’t need the stress”

“You just told him. All he has to do is look it up”

Ah. Maki hadn’t thought about that… he’d nearly told Tatsumi about the high grade prison under control of the C3 base Tiligaro Noval. Some of the rebellion leaders were currently being held there, and an official was being sent to investigate the cries of war crimes. Tiliga held so many dense jungles that it was quite popular within the Desolate Belt as a holiday destination. Rather than letting go the rebellion leaders, they intended to hold them until the rioters settled then release them. Maki would have kicked them back out, and told them to get their shit together, but in the eyes of the military they were traitors to the Empire. There were so many useless laws passed to cover almost everything imaginable that they’d “technicalitied” their way out of being logical. In the name of justice, the rebellion leaders would be transported to the main city to stand in front of a panel of judges.

Bringing his hands up, Maki scratched his head with both hands then let out a frustrated sigh as he dropped them

“Fuck. I guess we better get ready. I want you close to me the whole time. I want my best friend watching my back”

Li took his words the wrong way, thinking Maki still blamed him for nearly getting killed

“Is this because of last time?”

“No, it’s because right now I don’t trust myself not to want to stop and help anyone I can. I need my best friend to remind me I have to be selfish and put us first instead of being soft hearted. You’re my second in command and you’ll be in charge of keeping the line. Anyone who steps out risks punishment outside of our hands. I need you to pull up the security footage of my office too and make a duplicate. If there’s a complaint I want to know exactly what happened before anyone else pulls the footage”

Walking over to his desk, Maki opened the top drawer and entered his code to open the weapons safe built into the wall behind his desk. Grabbing out his blaster rifle, Maki checked the weapon before grabbing its holster. Li moving over to grab his own blaster rifle out its bracket then replying 

“I thought you said to Tatsumi wouldn’t look?”

“He wouldn’t. But it’ll be all over base by now that a civilian was left unsupervised in my office and I don’t want him blamed needlessly. I also want to make sure that Song didn’t say anything unnecessary if she’s questioned too. I’ve asked Tatsumi to visit more often. If I’m busy, I want you to make sure he’s comfortable here”

“Will he do it? He stayed away for so long”

“He will for me. Come on, you can work as we walk. Don’t forget your holster, I don’t want to write you up”

“Yes, boss. Just our blasters for this?”

With Li failing to grab his holster out fast enough, Maki grabbed it and shoved it as his best friend before pressing the button to seal the weapons locker back up 

“Yeah. No getting out your mech unless directly commanded. I want 2 grade 6 tracker chips ordered, too. Have them put in the next supply delivery”

“2 grade 6? What for?”

“Tatsumi. Request the addresses off the purchase agreement and send them through to Silva. Tell him I want all transmissions blocked from incoming sources. They’ll only need to pick up each other, nothing else. I want them able to override jamming, and I want one with the option to disable”

“Why go through Silva?”

“I want the code clean. I need one for Tatsumi”

“He doesn’t even go anywhere. He won’t like you monitoring his position without permission”

“Who said he wouldn’t know?”

“You’re making it pretty clear. Look, man. Be level with me here”

“Tatsumi’s depression is playing up. I’ll talk more about it later”

“It’s that bad?”

Li thought he wanted to track his husband out of fear he’d do something. In truth that was only a small sliver of Maki’s thought process. If his husband had access to his location even when his comms were off it’d give him more peace of mind, despite the break in rules. If Maki had access to Tatsumi’s position, should the wave of rebellion reach J10 then he needed to know where his husband was in a hurry. Mentally he apologised to his husband, but everything said was being recorded and he’d started explaining before remembering. Giving a nod, Maki turned from the sealed weapons locker, or rather, the grey wall that had retaken its place 

“A bit”

“Shit… okay, I’ll put it through”

“Thanks”

***

Landing on Tiliga, the situation had calmed down somewhat. In three days a member of the Imperial Family would arriving, accompanied with four cabinet members, and two further members of the third ring military command post. Everyone had been watching the announcement made by the Second Son of the Imperial Families main collateral line. They held very little power, but the power they did hold was in their name was more than enough.

With the announcement came a change in mission plan. They’d landed directly at the base, meaning they wouldn’t need to make any journey to and from, and would be there now to provide extra security once the Royal envoy arrived. Maki expected to hear the violence immediately seeing they’d been deployed so fast, yet beyond the fencing lay a city of tents, with ordinary people sitting there watching on. There was no yelling. No burned out vehicles. No crazed arsenal touters. Only ordinary citizens who’d felt neglected and condemned by the space between the Desolate Belt and the inner rings. 

But that was also another thing. Maki had kind of expected the Desolate Belt to be more lawless than it was. He expected half crumbled buildings, daily robberies, murders, piracy, and kind expected blatant poverty everywhere they looked. So far both Desolate Belt planets seemed beautiful. So much of it was untouched by human hands and the vast amounts of freedom was something a city person could only dream of. He’d stepped off the path to being a professional pilot and into leadership so Tatsumi would have less to worry over. His husband had insisted he take the path right for him and to continue as a pilot if that was his dream. Maki’s number one dream was to spoil his husband while seeing how far his career went. So maybe he saw the beauty for what it was as he wasn’t out there fighting on the front lines?

Li fell into step beside him, huffing 

“They said to leave our mechs parked. Why let us bring them and leave them behind?”

“Why do you think?”

“Because our COs have no goddamn idea?”

Maki couldn’t deny that what they’d been told had quickly become outdated data, but understood

“Look at the fence line. If we bring out our mechs we’ll only fan the flames right now. If you were peacefully protesting for what you felt was right and the army rolled out 40 mechs from one ship alone, you’d be angry. You’d feel like the Empire had made an empty promise because you don’t know what we do. We were sent to quiet the riot, not restart it now it’s settled. The mechs and ship will remain where they are unless it starts again”

Li dug his hands into his pockets 

“I guess that does make sense. I’ve pulled that footage too. I’m waiting on the purchase order to be able to contact Silva”

“Is there anything there I should know?”

“Tatsumi met with a guy. They seemed to get along pretty well. I couldn’t run the audio with the video”

“That’s good. I told you I’d tell you what was happening then didn’t say a word on ship”

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten. I know you’re fixated on him, but I’m still not sure about the tracker”

“I’m not fixated… well, I am… but not that way. Honestly, work isn’t going well for him and he was keeping it hidden from me so I don’t worry. He doesn’t think the school will extend his contract”

“What the shit?!”

Maki chuckled. Li had it right and summed up the situation 

“Yeah. His class was labelled no hopers and he promised them a tour of the base. It got back to management and they weren’t happy”

“Can he do that? Bring them on base?”

“We’re going to draft it up like a career day. We were going to talk about it but we got shipped out here instead”

“But what’s so wrong with a field trip?”

“He said the kids were banned from extracurricular activities over their low grades. He’s pissed as shit about their treatment”

Li groaned so heavily that Maki couldn’t even guess what his friend was about to say. Looking to the sky rather dramatically, Li then brought his hands up and together as if praying

“Oh no. They’ve awoken the nag in him, haven’t they? I’ll pray for them”

“They don’t need you praying for them. Tatsumi’s got them… but no one’s got him. He’s struggling to make friends, that’s why I want him at the base. He came out here and we haven’t been home. I’ve got you, and I’ve got Molly, and Francis. He’s got us”

“I never imagined that… he’s only scary when he’s really into something”

“He’s really into teaching the kids. They don’t like him. The school really drove into them that they’re no hopers with no shot ever”

“Oh… so they’re like Rage Fire?”

“A bit… but at Rage Fire he had respect and he had friends. He tried to befriend our neighbours and they told him where to stick it”

“They can get fucked”

Maki felt warm as he elbowed Li

“That right there is the reason you are the best person a friend could ask for. I’m worried if rebellion hits J10 Tatsumi will be caught up in it. I’m tracking him because I don’t trust him. I’m tracking him because I can’t lose him. I know we’ve only been here just over a month, but are you happy?”

Li looked at Maki as if he’d grown an extra head

“What’s there to not be happy about?”

“We were going to be the best pilots ever”

“Excuse you, we still are. Have you seen everyone else? Besides, we get paid and we don’t get shot at. I’m pretty happy about that”

“It wasn’t our plan”

“No, but it’s still good. I’ve got Molly”

“Then hurry up and make it serious. If she says no then I’ll be shocked”

“I don’t want to ruin things. Anyway, what are we going to do about Tatsumi? I don’t want the Prof to be sad”

“I want to start by being home. He’d promised he won’t hide it anymore, and he knows he better not. I don’t want to make him feel uncomfortable so I’m not sure”

“We could do something cool for him?”

“He’s been off doing cool things without us… Maybe when we get home we can rearrange the apartment and make it feel more like home for him?”

“Dude, how he puts up with you is sometimes a mystery. You need to woo him. Woo him so hard that he forgets to be sad”

That’s what he’d done the last two days… And as much as he loved Li, there was no way there’d be the two of them involved in that

“And what are you going to be doing?”

“Being your wingman?”

“And if the wooing works?”

“Being your wingman waiting on base and unable to go home?”

“We’ll save that plan for now. The walls seem pretty thick, I had Tatsumi screaming and no one yelled to shut up”

“Dude! I don’t need to know!”

With careful and deliberate words, Maki’s expression turned smug

“I had him screaming with laughter. I don’t know what you’re talking about. Tickling is surprisingly effective”

Li immediately blushed

“You know what, you walked me into that. You’re an arsehole”

“A bit… You’re mostly caught up now. He’s having a rough time, but he’s working on it. We’re possibly going to have a rough time too, but we have to work on it to so we can go home to him. He wanted to try have more of a normal life, and I am so goddamn proud he got his degree… I’m probably being selfish here, but I want him to have friends”

“You’re only selfish if you drive any friends he makes away”

“In the love department I’m confident. In the real life getting in the way department, I’m sunk”

“Ah, but your wingman is here to rescue you. Tonight will be all about the romance”

“I can’t romance him when he’s not here”

“No, but we can plan the romance”

“With our schedule? I’m not making another date and then not showing up”

“Oh, my man. Leave it to your best buddy, Li. We’ll send him something you can both enjoy”

Nope. No. Just like Li didn’t get any say in his love life, he got no say in whatever sexy ideas he had for Tatsumi. No lingerie. No toys. Absolutely none of that

“We’re not sending sexy things”

“Well there goes all my ideas. You’re on your own”

“You can’t leave me hanging like this”

“It’s okay, I have a back up plan formulated. Trust me”

“Okay… but anything sexy and I’m dropping you from my team”

“Don’t you worry. Leave it all to Li”

That’s exactly why Maki was worried. Where were enemies to shoot at you when your best friend was making crazy plans? Sure as shit not on C3.