Letting himself and Li into their apartment, Maki didn’t want to leave J10 for the next decade unless he was headed back to Terra. C3 had issued a statement finally in which they stated that the whole matter was started by a malfunction in a personal shield device worn by the soldier who’d died and the device had been essentially reduced to a state where repair and testing could not be conducted in order to determine just what the malfunction was. Maki gave exactly zero fucks, and his last words on C3 where to Ranchel where he told him he sincerely hoped to never run into him again.

Now he was home. Tatsumi’s soft snores were nearly drowned out by the television in the background. Their little apartment smelt crisp and clean. Patting his shoulder, Li headed off towards his bedroom, both of them tired and ready for bed especially seeing it was nearly one in the morning. With Tatsumi snoring and the television on, Maki didn’t hesitate to walk around the couch where he found his omega peacefully sleeping. Tatsumi definitely had the looks advantage over Ranchel. His precious husband as good looking as he remembered him, if not more seeing he’d spent too long apart from him.

Sitting on the edge of the sofa, Maki woke his husband accidentally. Brown eyes blinking up at him before smiling and reaching out for him

“Hello, beautiful”

Sinking into Tatsumi’s hold, Maki nuzzled his neck. There would never be a better therapy than his husband’s arms

“I’m back”

“I missed you. Welcome home”

Drawing back, Maki shifted his position and lifted Tatsumi up into his arms. His omega automatically wrapping his arms around him so as not to be dropped

“Do you let any alpha take you to bed?”

“I tried staying up until you got home”

“Yeah? Exhausted?”

“Very”

Maki could tell. Tatsumi had felt warm to the touch and there was something inside of him telling him to take his husband to bed so he could sleep properly. Without too much bother, the alpha did just that as he carried Tatsumi out the living area and to their bed, before laying him down carefully on his side. Sitting down, he leaned in and kissed the omega’s forehead 

“I’ve missed you so fucking much”

“I’ve missed you, too. Can you stay?”

“Yeah, babe. No reporting to the base until the afternoon”

“Mmm, come to bed. You must be exhausted”

“Let me turn the television off and check on Li. I’ll be right back”

“I’ll be waiting”

Leaving the bedroom, Maki jogged around the apartment making sure everything was turned off and nearly taking out Li in the process as he came out the bathroom with a rag

“Dude!”

“Sorry, I thought you were in your room”

“I was going to pee but there’s blood on the couch. Tatsumi must have had a nose bleed or something so I was going to clean it up for him”

Oh… oh… That probably wasn’t blood from his nose

“Ah. I’ll do it. Thanks for noticing, he’d probably be secretly embarrassed after cleaning up. He tried to wait up for us”

“I’ve got it”

“Nah. You get ready for bed, I’ve already put Tatsumi to bed and he’ll be out again”

“Is that why you’re turning all the lights off? You did my room too”

Maki reached out and took the cloth from Li before his friend could protest again

“Maybe…? Maybe I didn’t expect you to be creeping around?”

His best friend pouted as he huffed

“That’s nice. It’s our apartment”

Yeahhhh… and as soon as Maki saw Tatsumi his brain had only focused on him

“You know how I get”

“Do I ever. Okay, let me go pee and get to the kitchen before you go turning off the lights again”

Maki rolled his eyes

“I promise to wait”

“That’s all I ask”

Separating from Li, Maki returned to the sofa to scrub at the dried blood. Thankfully Li had caught it and his husband would never need to know. His husband would have taken critical damage to his pride, despite having no control over the fact all omegas bled… triply so if Li had been the one to clean it up then bring it up. His best friend had had his back again without the slightest clue.

***

Shuffling back to bed after using the bathroom, Tatsumi immediately resumed cuddling his husband. Maki shivering at his cold body, before pulling him against him

“You’re cold”

“I’m sorry I’m not sorry”

Maki snorted sleepily 

“What’s the time?”

“We’ve still got an hour then I need to get up”

“Why?”

“Work, babe”

His alpha let out a groan that sounded like he’d been strangled. Tatsumi had wanted to take the day off, but he’d had the last week off and it didn’t matter how shitty he was feeling. He’d already pushed his normal wake up time back to have a little more time with Maki

“I would…”

“Have taken the day if you could. My eyes are so heavy”

“Then go back to sleep”

“I want cuddles”

Laughing softly, Tatsumi pressed half a dozen kisses to his husband’s chin seeing he couldn’t reach his lips without moving

“You’re having them”

“Not enough. I want more”

“You’re having all the cuddles possible”

“Mhmm”

Despite wanting cuddles, Maki fell back to sleep. Tatsumi felt he’d had the easier time of it seeing he’d missed a whole week while Maki worked his arse off. When he’d seen the interview his husband had given his blood had run cold at the sight of all the blood… His mind had gone to the worst places, but a press release had stressed that only one man had been seriously injured and another killed. If Maki was up and giving interviews then he wasn’t the seriously injured one. Still, his heart hadn’t settled until he’d finally heard from his husband. His estrus had been utterly draining, he couldn’t take time off work to recover from it, and he’d lost himself a little to his omega so had only just finished cleaning the apartment the previous day. Thankfully his husband had no idea that most of his clothes had somehow ended up in the omega’s office to fill a small sliver of his instinctive needs, and that he’d holed up with them in there when he wasn’t at work.

Not letting himself go back to sleep, Tatsumi watched over Maki until he finally pried himself out of his hold and replaced himself with a pillow. Seeing Maki and Li had been through so much, he wanted to make them breakfast, or lunch depending on when they both crawled out of bed. Having them both home answered all his silent prayers, though going to work sucked because he wouldn’t be able to sit down and talk about what the pair had been through. Showering, dressing, stealing half a dozen kisses, then heading to the kitchen, Tatsumi didn’t expect Li to come padding out almost as soon as he’d opened the refrigerator. Mentally he had to laugh. Li loved his food, and it was almost like he had a whole other sense when it came to potentially missing out.

Stumbling his way to the kitchen, the alpha sat heavily at the counter, yawning then leaning over to lie against the top. Tatsumi teasing 

“Why aren’t you sleeping?”

“Fooooood”

“I’m making breakfast. Coffee?”

“Please”

Making Li a coffee, the omega made sure to add cold water to bring it down to immediate drinking temperature then placed the mug in Li’s hand. Li sitting up with a sleepy smile on his face

“Work?”

“Yeah. I won’t be home until about 4”

“We’ve got to be on base at 1”

“I’m guessing you’ll eat and go back to sleep?”

“Yesss. Fucking C3”

“You guys had a hell of a time”

“Don’t go there. Maki’s friends with royalty”

Friends was a stretch from what his husband had said… Though he’d never actually met anyone of Imperial blood. Resuming gathering up what he needed, Tatsumi nodded once he was done 

“At least it’s over and you’re home now”

“Is it?”

“It’s not?”

“I don’t know. Maki can’t tell me anything”

Ah. Li was feeling left out

“You know he would if he could, they’d have had him sign a NDA and he’s probably pretty annoyed”

“They ruined my plans. He wanted to do something for you and I was going to make him look all handsome then send him back to you”

“I appreciate the thought, but he’s handsome enough. Any more handsome and I might have to be jealous”

“He says the same thing about you. Can’t you call in sick?”

“Not this week. I got enough shit over last week”

“From the school or your students?”

“The school. My class hasn’t been as terrible, I think they took pity on their poor sick looking teacher. I say that, but they still gave me shit”

“Want us to go teach them a lesson?”

Tatsumi snorted. Maki and Li had rubbed off on each other for both good and bad

“It’s not so hard that I need my battle fought”

“We can scare the shit out of them”

“You’re sounding like Maki. No scaring my students, I want them to actually learn something rather than be intimidated into submission”

“But you’re like the nicest teacher out there… until you get all scary. Maki used to say you were a tyrant”

“I’ll take the compliment. I’ve made some meals and frozen them. My estrus through off making as much as I would have liked”

“Yeah, but you won’t have to go through it for a while soon, right? Once you and Maki start trying again”

Li might have been trying to be supportive, but Tatsumi found the subject too tender for the morning

“Mmm… maybe. It’s all over the place. Once you’re debriefed do you think you guys will be home tonight?”

“No idea. They only put us to work there because we’d already made the trip. Like they could have sent us back and it would have been fine. The only real thing that happened was that personal protection device going off”

“You’ll still need to be caught up on the last two weeks. If you’re stuck there let me know and I’ll bring food”

“You are the best roommate ever. Maki tried to turn the lights off on me last night. He went around doing all that and totally forgot I was home”

“That might have been my fault. I was waiting up”

“He said that. I’m not going to be cramping your style right? If you only want to live with him, I get it”

Abandoning the eggs he was scrambling, the omega reached over and ruffled Li’s hair

“You’re not. It’ll take time to find a rhythm. For now I’m relieved that you’re both back in one piece. This is your home too, only maybe don’t go in the office. I’ve got it set up so all my work crap isn’t laying around”

“I can do that… it sucks you have to bring work home”

“Nah. It’s not so bad seeing I only have the one lot of kids to take care of and the coffee is conveniently close”

“Oh… oh! Right. If I bought you and Maki a fancy coffee machine for your wedding, would you keep it?”

“Where’s that coming from?”

“Maki said he’d rather a few jars of instant and that that would be fine. He threatened to gift it back to me if I bought you guys one”

“I don’t really need one… but maybe the one at home could be replaced?”

“See! You get it. He was all no and I don’t get it”

“He probably doesn’t want any sort of present. He’ll be happy as long as you’re there and MCing”

“MCing?”

“Who else would we have to MC our wedding?”

Li’s face lit up

“Me? For real?”

“Obviously. Who else knows as many good stories about Maki as you do?”

“That’s true. I’m clearly the best man for the job”

“Exactly, and it’s not like there won’t be a while for you to gather more stories”

“I bet he’d get so mad if I told everyone how much Ranchel looks like you. He like got all displeased”

“My class gave me so much shit about it. They kept saying I was some kind of prince”

“You could have been, but Ranchel looked into your family history and I’m guessing you’re not. It’d be so cool if you were. Like you were some kind of secret heir…”

“You’re thinking too much. Can you imagine the paperwork? I’m fine being me”

“But the money… and all the fancy balls and banquets…”

“And all the dressing up, and all the restricted diet…”

Li wrinkled his nose

“Stop ruining my dream. I could totally go for a feast and some beautiful people to dance with”

“Or you could go and confess to Molly. I thought you two had progressed and now I find out you haven’t”

“Not you toooooo! She’s… she’s so incredible. I don’t want to be the one to hold her back”

“I was the same with Maki. Maki threw himself into everything head first. I knew the life better than him and he was just starting out on his journey. I know why he took this job, and I know what’s going on in his head, but until he says outright then all I can do is support him in every way I can. He insists on sharing the load on my shoulders, and he hasn’t run away. I still feel I’m holding him back a lot”

“He’d be pissed if you said that”

“Exactly. The whole reason we have an open policy is because I can’t be trusted to keep things from him… even if it’s natural to protect the one you love. Maki took a chance and put his heart first. You should with Molly. You deserve to be happy, Li. You deserve someone who loves you for you. I never ever thought I’d find a person who could love me after what happened or I’d ever be in the position where I felt I was allowed to be loved. Maki gave me that. You’re not in the way by being here either. It’s not only him that I worry about. I love you like a little brother so I want to be here when you need to talk”

Li scratched the back of his head

“It’s nice to be wanted”

“You are. You’re Maki’s best friend and you’re always here for him. I want to be here for you too. Supporting someone can be draining and I get that. NDA’s also fucking suck. You want to be able to help and this stupid piece of paper says you can’t. It’s a shit feeling”

“I feel like Maki’s hiding something big”

“Probably. When you take a command post it gets infinitely harder. All you can do is your best and you’re already doing that”

“Tats’… you’re like the coolest ever”

“Not really. I’m old and I’m jealous you guys are still in the field, but it’s not all bad”

“If… if Maki magically had the money for your eyes…”

“No. My eyes are my issue. Let me have this bit of my pride”

“I don’t want to. I mean, I could totally…”

“Li, it’s enough to want to. I’m working and saving, and even if I can’t have the surgery it’ll be okay. I can tutor without seeing. I can work and breathe and do all kinds of things… like make breakfast”

“I am hungry”

“I noticed. It won’t be long”

***

Arriving at his class, Tatsumi felt grateful for his students for the first time since he’d taken them on. He still thought they hated him. The school had given him a warning for not controlling his estrus cycle properly, despite having notified them of its sudden onset once he’d been safely home. Opening the door to his classroom, he thought he’d been pranked when no one was there, instead there was a message scrawled on a bit of paper stuck to his board with gum that he didn’t appreciate as he pulled it off and left half behind 

“No one’s coming today. We decided by class vote”

His class knew his husband was coming home. He’d mentioned it in passing by accident, then it’d been on the local news a few days earlier that those deployed were expected back soon. The kids he taught were in no way dumb, able to find news things without needing to rely on reading when all it took was clicking on photos… and there he’d been not giving them enough credit. They’d gone out of their way to give him the best gift he could have asked for.

Folding the note to cover the gum, Tatsumi didn’t want to take his work back home with him, so decided to leave it in his office. As for the note, he wanted to frame it. Trust was always earned, and it felt a hell of a lot of trust must have been placed in him to not come in. Then again, they probably didn’t care about having the day off all that much and were happy to use Maki as an excuse not to come… but he’d rather believe it was a “thank you” for not giving up on the group of them.

Heading to his office, Tatsumi unloaded his marking. For a moment he thought about adjusting everyone’s grades then decided that would only be encouraging their bad behaviour. Checking that everything was in place, Tatsumi smiled at the thought of how he could go home and surprise his husband now. He could have the talk he’d wanted to have and properly check in with both alphas. Turning to leave, his hopes were dashed. Standing behind was the school principal, not looking overly impressed 

“Mister Hikaru”

“Sir, can I help you?”

“I’ve been informed that you’ve given your students the day off? Their home rooms reported the absences and all of them seem to be in your class”

“I only just found out that everyone is absent…”

Would he have bothered coming all the way in and leaving Maki in bed had he known? No. They probably didn’t message him just to make him go to the trouble of getting ready 

“Really? And how were you informed?”

Tatsumi produced the note

“This was left on the classroom board. I had no idea of their intentions”

Passing it over, the note brought a deeper frown to the principal’s face

“This is unacceptable”

Tatsumi was in agreement, yet still happy to be recognised by his students 

“It wasn’t my idea. I came in intending on teaching today. I had no idea of their plans. I had hoped to return their tests and go through the problems they got wrong”

“You’re testing them and expecting results?”

“Yes. They’re all bright kids who catch on very quickly”

“And their results?”

“As expected. We’ve been doing job intake forms and the assessment was to complete them unaided and without use of any comm devices”

“That’s not the syllabus”

“No, sir, but it has engaged them. They have small competitions within their friend groups and as they don’t want to fail in the eyes of their friends they’ve worked very hard. The motive might be petty, but it’s led to self improvement”

The principal adjusted his weight

“Mister Hikaru I feel I should tell you that at this stage we will not be carrying your contract into the new year and you will need to find new employment. Your methods may be fine in Terra, but here we hold ourselves to high standards. Not only have you touted the school rules, you’ve now encouraged students not to attend”

“I had no idea they had this planned. I’m happy for you to check my comms and confirm. As for my methods, all those kids felt they’d been left behind with no hope. It may not be the syllabus for the semester, yet if they keep up their current rate of learning they’ll be able to seamlessly transition as of next year. I would love to be able to teach the classic literature of Empire, but isn’t getting them excited over learning more important?”

“We’re not in the military here”

“No, we’re at a school where every student should have the right to an education, even if it has to be adapted to give that student the practical knowledge to be able to be educated seeing they previously missed out. Some of these kids come from parents who also can’t read and now they’re learning they can help their parents and their family businesses. I know forms aren’t any part of required learning, and I understand where you’re coming from. I’m not intentionally touting the rules for fun, I’m trying to help these kids”

“It’s still completely unacceptable. What do you think these parents are paying for?”

Tatsumi wanted to roll his eyes. The parents sent their kids to school thinking they were being educated not kept locked up and left in the dark 

“For their kids to have a chance. They chose not to come today with no consultation with me… I honestly had no idea. It’s public knowledge that those on C3 were returning and I planned to teach then speak to my husband after. A few hours wouldn’t make much difference after two weeks”

“If you’re so committed to your job, where were you going next?”

Tatsumi had expected the question, smoothly lying

“I had thought about heading to the library and looking up some materials for next week. Now I’m considering going home as I can work from home just as easily due to not having a class”

“Go home then. You won’t be paid for today and this is your second warning. Reach the third and we’ll cancel your contract on the spot”

“That’s understandable seeing my students decided to give themselves the day off. Would you like to view the students work?”

“Give it over and I’ll have another teacher assess it. I doubt your marking is fair compared to the other students”

With his boss watching, Tatsumi retrieved the marked work from his locked drawer. The school’s dislike of him had left him paranoid that they’d be going through his desk when he wasn’t on grounds. Smiling falsely, the omega handed it over

“I’d prefer to get the originals back but I’ve made copies of their tests if something happens to these ones. At Rage Fire we always kept copies so the habit hasn’t really left”

“You were only a teacher there for a few months”

“Maybe, yet I also had a year and a half of helping other teachers and working unofficially as an aide to them. All I aim to do is help the students and provide the best education I can for their level”

Puffed out like a blow fish, the precious note was thrust back at Tatsumi as the principal gathered himself up to full height

“I expect to see you Monday”

“Yes, sir”

“And if you’re even considering calling in ill, ill be accepting your resignation instead”

“That won’t be happening. My husband calls me a tyrant. When I lock my teeth into something I don’t tend to let go until I get the outcome I want which in this case is getting all my students to pass. I’ll see you on Monday, sir”

Feeling refreshed after his verbal sparring with his boss, Tatsumi headed back to the apartment, stopping to treat himself along the way. Half of him wanted to treat his students come Monday, and half of him knew it would never end if he did, so instead he’d treat Maki and Li. Spending a little too much, the smile on his face was wide the whole walk home. His class actually like him. He was liked by his class. 30 more people on J10 liked him. Even if the school principal took offence to him changing the syllabus, that was one man. One man who could already read, write, and leave the planet whenever he wanted to. One man who was not 30 teenagers… and teenagers were the far scarier option.

Seeing he’d left early for work, Li had gone back to bed and Maki was still sleeping. At most it’d be another hour or two before they both surfaced. Placing down his shopping, Tatsumi then got out his precious note and smoothed it out. Like a teenager getting confessed to by his crush, Tatsumi wanted to run and tell Maki his good news. He wanted to tell him that things finally seemed to be coming together… but his poor husband needed his sleep and Tatsumi feared he might be too excited. Scratching his non-existent plans to let Maki and Li rely on a frozen meal for lunch, he had a new plan. Cola wings and fried rice in celebration.

***

Waking to the sound of his alarm beeping, Maki felt around for Tatsumi before realising his husband had work. Dragging himself out of bed, Maki could have done with a few more hours sleep, yet allowing him to come in in the afternoon was enough of a concession. He’d call his omega later and see if he’d come to base to spend time with him. This work thing sucked.

Leaving the bedroom, Maki headed to the bathroom to get ready. Feeling marginally better for having showered, the next priority was coffee, followed by seeing if Li was awake and then came food. The alpha hadn’t noticed at all that Tatsumi had watched him come out of their room, go to the bathroom, come back out and go to the kitchen. He was oblivious until he made it to the kitchen bench where a hot coffee was magically waiting. Raising his gaze, his eyes widened

“You’re home?!”

Laughing at him, Tatsumi leaned over the counter and kissed him

“I have the day off”

How? As far as Maki knew the school didn’t like his husband that much and would never have randomly given him the day off. Abandoning his coffee, Maki rounded the counter and threw himself on his husband

“How?! Fuck… fuck, you’re not fired right?”

As if he weighed nothing, Tatsumi lifted him by the arse and sat him on the counter. Maki didn’t want to let him go, so his husband struggled to retrieve something before holding it far too close for Maki to actually read. Forced to let go, he took the piece of paper in his hand. His husband sounded so happy as explained

“I got to class and they’d left me this. All of them were marked absent in homeroom”

“No one came?”

Tatsumi loved teaching. Despite the bad run, Maki knew the kids were already special to his husband so didn’t understand why he’d be so happy about none of them coming in

“I don’t get it”

“They knew you came back from C3, and none of them came in. My class gave me the day off to see my husband”

Oh! Tatsumi thought they all hated him, but something seemed to have changed if they’d all come together like this

“That’s so fucking cool”

“The principal didn’t think so, but I told him I was clueless. I’m going to frame it”

Laughing over his omega’s pride, Maki placed the note down then slung his arms over his husband’s shoulders 

“I thought something bad must have happened… But it’s good. They finally see how likeable you are”

“I like to think that and not that they just didn’t want to see me so took advantage of the situation”

“You’re doing amazing if these kids are going this far. You’re not in more trouble, right?”

“Oh, I had a fight with the principal. He doesn’t like the kids not doing the syllabus stuff, but I’m so goddamn impressed with them. I had them do some forms as a test and they’re not great, but some couldn’t write their names before and now they’re filling in things and understanding what they say”

Leaning up, Maki kissed his husband. It felt so long since he’d seen Tatsumi so happy and confident. His heart sinking as he remembered what he was hiding

“I’m proud of you. We should go out. We could go camping?

“You have to go to work”

“I didn’t mean today, but I’m sorely tempted to call in sick”

“You can’t do that”

“Probably not. Now you’re home I don’t want to go anywhere”

“I don’t want you to either, but unfortunately you don’t have a whole class that will cut so you can go home to your husband”

“Those kids are something else. You’re something else. I’m serious. I know I have to go today, but if I can swing tomorrow we should go out. You and me. No comms, or anything else. I want to be completely alone with you”

If C3 had put a listening bug on his comms then Maki needed to cover why he wouldn’t have them… He felt bad about lying, yet also wasn’t lying as he really did want alone time with his husband. Tatsumi kissing him happily

“Mmmm… I would love that, but I’ve also promised Li that we’ll go out for dinner sometime soon”

“We can do that. Now I have you, I should make lunch for you”

“I’ve already made you guys lunch”

“You did?”

“I didn’t think you’d want to cook and that note made me want to spoil my class… instead I decided I was going to spoil my husband and his best friend”

His husband was amazing. How he’d scored the most amazing man in the Empire with the biggest hard would never fail to make the alpha all dopey with pride and happiness

“I should pay the kids to write notes like that more often”

“They don’t need any encouragement. I’m on two strikes and was told not to consider phoning in sick without adding my resignation along with it”

“Fuck off. You’re the best coach these kids could ask for”

“Teacher, babe. The fancy piece of paper says so”

“I’m still proud of you. You should come to the base with us”

“I’ll walk you there. There’s someone I need to catch up with”

Maki felt guilty that he had some idea of who Tatsumi meant… He had essentially spied on him

“Is it that guy you talked to in my office? You said you had a fight with Song so I had Li pull the footage…”

Wincing as he confessed, it sounded really bad when he said it out loud. Tatsumi simply nodding

“Yeah. He’s the omega that came second in your competition at Alma. You don’t seem to remember him, but he remembered you. His name is Hizuru. He wants to change a few things with his mech and I told him I’d give him ideas if he needed”

Maki knew this from his prying…

“You’re not mad? I essentially invaded your privacy”

“I’ve got nothing to hide. I was going to ask Li to try being friends with him”

“But I still…”

“You’re expected to take a position where you’re looked up to. It’s fine”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you… Actually, I ordered a tracker for your comms. Li thought it’s because I wanted to know where you are at all times, but it’s because… well… there’s that, but not that… like… with the rebellion. I’m realising now how it all sounds”

His husband pursed his lips, then slowly asked

“Do I get one for you?”

“Yeah. I thought it might be helpful so you don’t worry as much”

“If it goes both ways then it’s okay. I’d have been mad if you didn’t tell me”

“I don’t want you caught up in the rebellion if it comes here. I need to know where you are so if something happens I can find you”

“And it has nothing to do with my mental health?”

“Umm… a little bit. Okay. I’m horrible. I worry when I don’t know where you are and I trust you. I do trust you”

“I would hope so. I’m a little annoyed, but I’m also a little flattered you’d get that jealous”

“I’m not jealous”

Tatsumi raised an eyebrow, Maki deflating. He was jealous thanks to so much time apart and clarified

“You’re so amazing and I don’t want to lose you. You’re going off camping and hiking, and I know you can take care of yourself, but what if you got hurt and your comms wouldn’t work?”

“And what if I didn’t? In the future we’ll discuss things like this first, okay?”

“Okay”

“Good boy. I’m not a teaspoon”

“No… I know you’re not”

“Then we’ll talk about this again when the trackers arrive. In the meantime you can go wake Li up and I’ll finish up lunch”

“We still get lunch?”

His husband sighed, kissed him, then shook his head

“You went off thinking on your own but you told me and that’s the main thing. It’s a blip, not a fight”

“I feel dumb”

“You feel like my husband to me. My big loving alpha who occasionally has tiny dumb moments because he cares too much and is a little insecure. I wanted to spoil the people I care about, and I’m not about to starve you for something so small. No. I’ll save that for when you’ve really fucked up”

“I don’t want to fuck up”

“Then I foresee no starvation in your future. Go get Li, then you can both tell me about C3. I’m thinking about taking a trip out to F6 in the not too distant future”

Lifted off the bench before he could protest, Maki pouted 

“I’m not that light, and why F6?”

“You’re light enough. I had a job lined up there sort of until you got assigned here”

“You want to move there?”

“I’m keeping my options open”

Maki didn’t want that. He wanted to call Tatsumi’s school and lecture them on what an asset his husband was… still, if work picked up and he did get slammed into staying long hours, was it fair to expect Tatsumi to stay and be jobless? What if the military took it the wrong way and thought Tatsumi was moving there because of the Hadres? He’d have to make that trip away happen as soon as possible 

“Okay… we’ll talk about it later?”

“Yeah, depending on how exams go for this term”

“Alright…”