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"You better bring him back in one piece," Akari says sharply. The long hallway is empty except for the two of them and the sound of their footsteps. "He's too important for you to screw up and let him die."
Hirato doesn't bother hiding his smile. "I didn't know you cared so much, Akari-san. I'm sure he'll be touched when I tell him."
Akari's shoulders stiffen so minutely that if Hirato hadn't been looking for it, he might have missed it.
"He's more intelligent than you and your subordinates combined," Akari snaps. "His contribution to our research is indispensable. You, on the other hand, are very much dispensable."
Sometimes Hirato really wonders who Akari thinks he's fooling.
It certainly isn't Hirato and when he says, "Don't worry, Akari-san. I'll make sure to jump between him and any thing he might annoy," he means it.
Akari can probably tell because he's almost relaxed when they step into the entrance room and the buzzing there dies down. Hirato takes in the thick winter coats and all the equipment the research team has insisted they have to take with them. It's a lot, but then again they're carrying most of it themselves so Hirato supposes it's fair enough.
"Pair up," he says and when Yogi tries to shuffle closer to Gareki, "You know you're going with Ako-san."
Yogi's face falls.
Gareki's doesn't, but when he straightens his back, he looks right past Hirato's shoulder and says, "Akari-sensei?"
Akari doesn't say anything, or rather, Hirato doesn't hear him say anything. He still gets an unfamiliar and uncomfortable feeling that they're holding an entire conversation over the top of his head.
"Fine," Gareki says finally. His focus shifts to Hirato. "I guess you're with me then."
Hirato has on occasion wondered if leaving Gareki into Akari's care for these past few years had been a mistake. They're starting to sound very alike.
Sometimes Hirato even thinks that they're starting to look alike, but he figures that's just their white coats, the general aura of keen intellect, the more specific and amusing aura of annoyance around him, and the height Gareki has gained. Hirato hasn't quite forgiven him that one yet.
Or Gareki's good looks in general. Sometimes Hirato has to work hard to not pay any attention to that.
He ignores Gareki's resigned sigh and speaks to the room as a whole. "You know what to do when we get down there. Stay safe and report back to Akari-san. Return to the ship tomorrow."
The solemn nods warm his heart, even and perhaps especially Gareki's.
"Ready?" Hirato asks. It takes a few seconds to figure out where to get a hold of Gareki and his backpack, but Hirato has faced greater challenges than that.
"Ready," Gareki confirms, his breath a warm puff against Hirato's ear. Hirato ignores determinedly both that and the arm around his waist.
"All right. Let's go."
Hirato did see the stunningly beautiful landscape in photos and video, but it looks different when he sees it with his own eyes. White snow is covering everything from the nearby trees to the distant mountaintops. The only splotches of color Hirato can see are the pine branches that aren't covered by heaps snow, and his and Gareki's parkas. Even the blue, purple and black of their clothes seem muted here, like the sheer blinding whiteness of everything is overpowering them.
It really is very beautiful for the few seconds Hirato looks at it before pushing his sunglasses up the bridge of his nose. The landscape gets darker and his eyes stop watering.
"We should head that way," Gareki says and points to their left, his breath visible in the cold air. "If you won't slack off, it's a two hour walk to the cabin. I should have enough time to take the samples before it gets dark."
Hirato isn't looking forward to that.
"We could always fly there," he says even though he knows precisely why they can't. "I know you're all grown up now, but you're not too heavy yet."
Gareki's darkened goggles hide his eyes, but Hirato can feel his withering stare anyway. It's familiar and Hirato lets himself smile because he feels like it and because he knows it'll annoy Gareki even more.
"I don't care what you do," Gareki says predictably. "I'm walking. I need to check out a few things on the way there."
"I promised Akari-san I wouldn't let you out of my sight. He said he likes you too much to lose you."
Gareki snorts which is fairly unattractive. "No, he didn't."
The blush raising to his already reddening cheeks, however, is quite attractive.
"You'd be surprised." Hirato adjust his shoulder straps and strides past Gareki, snow crunching under his boots and brushing Gareki's shoulder with his own. "Come on, then."
The lake is a vast, white flatness, and Hirato would prefer it if it stayed that way.
Beside him, Gareki is already shrugging out of his parka. It's only sensible considering how much it weighs when it's wet, but when every exhale is visible in the crisp winter air, stripping down is a strange and alarming sight.
"It knows I'm here the second I step onto the ice," Gareki says and nods towards the lake. He rolls his shoulders, clutching a sharp knife and a small vial. "Vibrations. Last year it let me walk fifty meters before it broke the ice, but it's later in winter now so it's not gonna take that long."
"I did read the report," Hirato says mildly. "I know what to expect."
Gareki scrutinies him with more suspicion than is warranted. "If it gets me, at least try to get the samples to Akari-sensei."
If it's a choice between Gareki and the samples, Hirato knows which one he'll pick. He knows which one Akari would pick too.
He still says, "Obviously," and wonders if he's fooling anyone anymore than Akari is.
"Right."
Gareki takes a deep breathe and closes his eyes for a moment. Then he exhales and takes off, running a lot faster than Hirato thought he could cover the ground.
Ten meters, fifteen, twenty, the distance grows and then the ice breaks with a sound like a gunshot that echoes across the lake. The part of Hirato that cares about the mission knows that the other teams heard it through their equipment and quite likely without it, too. He knows they're busy recording every change that happens in the lake right now, the depth and the temperature and what all the things living in it do.
The part of him that cares about any of that is very small.
The rest - the most - of him sees a mass of writhing tentacles rising from the freezing water and wrapping around Gareki's body, pulling him under the surface in a matter of seconds, almost faster than Hirato can call his banshee.
The creature is critically endangered and Hirato has very strict orders to not kill it and to hurt it as little as possible. It's an effort to remember that.
His banshee dive into the hole in the ice and Hirato grits his teeth. He can't see what they're doing so he has to make guesses and hope that the faint echoes of touch he feels through them are enough to direct him. He doesn't give a damn about the creature and neither do his banshee. They're focused on finding Gareki and prying him free before he gasps for air and gets lungfuls of water instead.
Hirato feels water and smooth hide under his palms, a mere ghost of a sensation, and suddenly there's something else, the rougher and looser texture of clothes he can almost but not quite grab. Then his banshee are there in a horde, knowing exactly what he wants, and they're mindlessly determined to give it to him. They're a violent extension of Hirato's will and they're not gentle when they tear the tentacles away.
When the banshee fly out of the water with Gareki in their grasp, the tentacles strain after them uselessly. The creature can't come any further into the wintery cold air without hurting itself, and it disappears back into the lake as the banshee set Gareki down onto the snow.
He's soaking wet and that's not a good thing in this temperature, but he's also spitting and coughing and so alive that Hirato feels it down to his bones. He drops down to his knees too, holding a blue parka to wrap it around Gareki's shaking shoulders.
"Get me inside," Gareki stutters between his chattering teeth and heaving breaths. "Cold."
It's a lot easier to grab him now that there's no backpack to maneuver around.
They'd set everything up before they'd headed for the lake, but Hirato supposes it's just his luck that it didn't work out. The carefully lit fireplace is very much not lit, and the small one-room log cabin is freezing.
The beddings are still spread in front of the fireplace and Gareki groans aloud when he takes everything in. "Not again."
Hirato might have nodded in sympathy if he hadn't memorized the previous year's report, both the actual text and what was easy enough to read between its lines. He's put a lot of effort into not resenting or feeling jealous of anyone at all, and also to making sure that this time, it was the Second Ship that accompanied the scientists to this particular annual mission.
"I'll light it again," he says and unfolds Gareki's fingers from their death-grip on his coat. The fingers are freezing cold and bone-white, and Hirato squeezes them briefly before saying, "Take off your clothes and get under the covers."
The sound Gareki makes is somewhere between a snort and a grimace put into words, but he lifts his hands and tugs at his shirt clumsily.
Hirato isn't an expert at setting fires and he goes through more than a few matches before it takes. When he finally turns around again, Gareki is down to his wet socks and he's toweling his hair roughly, and Hirato doesn't even attempt to not look. He has to check Gareki over for injuries and that's the explanation he's sticking to if anyone asks, but, well.
Wet, freezing, deathly pale and shivering uncontrollably isn't a good look on Gareki, but naked definitely is.
"Get in here," Hirato says and lifts the covers. The beddings are cold to touch too. "I'll join you in a minute."
"Great."
The amount of sarcasm Gareki manages to put into the word is reassuring, but the way he stumbles as he walks isn't.
A hand around his ankle almost brings him down, but he regains his balance enough to lift his foot when he realizes what Hirato wants. The socks end up on the floor and Gareki under the covers. The only things Hirato can see anymore are the damp ends of Gareki's wild hair, at least until Gareki throws the covers aside and attempts to get up again.
"The sample, I need to-"
"I'll do it," Hirato interrupts, pushing Gareki back down and pulling the covers over him. "Stop that."
"But the-"
"You told me what to do." In detail and with instructions so simplified that Hirato would have to really try to fuck it up. "Stay there."
"If you ruin it-"
"You and Akari-san will yell at me, I know," Hirato says over his shoulder. "I'm sure I'll deserve it."
The vial has a chunk of meat in it, neatly carved with a knife that's now at the bottom of the lake. Hirato is honestly impressed that Gareki managed to get the sample in the midst of the chaotic struggle. It's quick work to put the vial into the small portable refrigerator and set the temperature to match the lake water.
Then Hirato uses a few precious minutes to hang the towel and Gareki's wet clothes around the fireplace before undressing briskly down to his underwear. There's nothing to it, really, except sharing body-heat and whatever they bring into it, and it'll hopefully save Gareki from pneumonia or worse. Hirato's idle thoughts are obviously there too, but as long as they're safely in the privacy of his own mind, it's fine.
He slides between the covers and pulls them over them both, and then his hands are on ice cold skin. Gareki shakes at the touch and swears sharply, but he also unfolds from the tight ball he's curled himself into. It's easy to keep any untoward thoughts at bay when touching him is more akin to touching a dying body than a living and breathing one.
"The sample," Gareki stutters. "Is it alright?"
Staying with Akari has clearly skewed his priorities.
"It's in a better shape than you are," Hirato answers truthfully.
He wraps his arm around trim waist and throws his leg over Gareki's, pulling until Gareki's back is tight against his front. It feels like the cold is seeping into him instead of his heat into Gareki, and getting a faceful of damp hair doesn't help any.
Even between him and the roaring fire, the skin under Hirato's hands is slow to warm up and when he lifts up enough to see Gareki's face, he's visibly struggling to stay awake.
"Don't sleep," Hirato says and Gareki's sleepy eyes snap open. He turns his head and even now, the startling blue of his eyes reminds Hirato of Iva's precious jewels. "Talk to me."
"What?"
"Talk to me," Hirato repeats. "The subject doesn't matter. Just don't sleep."
Gareki makes a low, compliant noise. "Ask me something."
The easiest question is, "Why are we here?"
"You know-" Gareki starts. Then he shakes his head, gaze focusing. "Research Tower's project, fifth year of it. Third for me. We're here to-"
The important parts are things Hirato already knows and the scientific details he doesn't care about or even fully understand, but it doesn't matter. The longer Gareki talks, the steadier his halting voice becomes. The shivering and twitching of his muscles eases off as he warms up. Hirato curls his fingers around Gareki's fisted hands and pries them open, slotting their fingers together. The full-body contact is necessary. This little indulgence is just for him.
Eventually Gareki's voice trails off. The blanket cocoon they're in is getting too hot to be comfortable and Hirato is acutely aware of the naked body plastered against his. It's the kind of indulgence he can't afford to enjoy and he needs a distraction before he does.
He's about to say something, anything, when Gareki suddenly jerks and scrambles to sit up. The blankets fall down to his waist and there's nothing short of a Varuga attack that could distract Hirato from that sight.
Gareki's hair is an even wilder birdnest than it usually is and his eyes are frantic when he looks down at Hirato. "What time is it? Fuck. The samples won't keep for much longer."
Clearly he's fine and warm enough, so Hirato has no excuse whatsoever to keep him under the blankets and from the work he's here to do. It's not Hirato's work though, so he doesn't make any attempt to follow Gareki as he stands up.
Naked really is a good look on him.
"Have fun," Hirato says and closes his eyes, stretching out now that he has more room for that. He'll keep the image of all that bare skin and lithe muscles for later, when he's alone and free to do something with it.
"Lazy," Gareki replies, but he sounds almost fond.
Hirato opens his eyes again and finds Gareki still looking at him. It's bit of a struggle to keep his eyes on Gareki's face and not somewhere lower. Gareki seems to have no qualms about letting his gaze wander and when he meets Hirato's eyes again, his face is redder than before.
It's very interesting.
Gareki says grudgingly, "Thanks. For, you know," as Hirato's thoughts and assumptions rearrange themselves into new and intriguing shapes.
"I don't," he lies blatantly. "Didn't Akari-san teach you to be more precise with your words?"
"Yes," Gareki says and walks to his backpack. He pulls out a new, dry set of thermal underwear and continues, "He also told me not to waste them on you."
It does sound like something Akari would do and Hirato laughs, settling back into the makeshift bed and watching as Gareki gets dressed again.
"He's a good teacher," Hirato acknowledges. It's simply stating a fact and it doesn't cost him anything to admit it. "And based on the reports I get, you're an excellent student."
Gareki spreads his field kit on the table and sits down, holding the small vial like it's made of ordinary glass and not the sturdier material Research Tower uses. He looks thoughtful when he pops the lid open.
"It's a waste of everyone's time if I'm not," he says and bends over his work. "Can you shut up now? I have to concentrate."
It's on the tip of Hirato's tongue to argue just on principle, but there's a line between fun teasing and being a genuine disturbance. Gareki doesn't need the latter now, not when he's finally so close to the goal they set all those years ago. It won't take long until he has the title and the job he's worked so hard for.
It won't take long until Hirato will look for every excuse to have him on the Second Ship. For the work he'll do as the combat medic, for the entertainment he'll provide by being himself, and for, well. Maybe to share the wine bottle Hirato has saved for the occasion, if he wants. Maybe to share Hirato's bed too, if he wants.
Hirato never actually meant to share Gareki with the other Ships, of course, but it's better if he genuinely wants to stay with them. Now all Hirato has to do is to convince Tokitatsu and Akari to give Gareki to him and the Second Ship, and he's had years to perfect his arguments.
Gareki's current work will take a few hours and Hirato settles down on the beddings, making sure that the blankets are artfully draped over himself and revealing more than they cover. For all Gareki is focused on his tests, he does sneak a not so subtle glance that makes Hirato feel fairly optimistic about the future.