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The box sat on the edge of his desk, mocking him. It was practically screaming go on, take a bite, you know you want one to him.
Sure, he wanted to. But he was not going to be fooled again. He’d read the blurb on the back of the box. He knew exactly what unholy concoctions lay inside.
A cup of tea appeared in his line of vision, startling him and cutting off his glare. He looked up, meeting a grin and a pair of sharp blue and grey eyes.
“Any particular reason you’re glaring at a box of chocolates like it killed your cow and offended your mom?” Tanaka asked, setting the cup down on the desk and sitting next to it.
Ennoshita gave a sheepish smile and rubbed the back of his head. “Not really, no,” he replied, pointing at the cup. “Is that for me?”
Tanaka nodded, raising his own drink. Ennoshita smiled at the personalized mug Noya had given Tanaka for his birthday. It had a crudely painted picture of a stick figure with a text that said ‘You’ll never catch me drinking at work’. On the other side, it simply said ‘Ryuu Rocks’ next to an equally crudely painted helicopter and a red cross. The handle had broken off when it had fallen to the hangar floor during an impromptu arm wrestling contest, but it was no less functional than it had been before.
“Thank you,” he took the steaming cup and sighed. “I should probably explain the chocolate.”
“You don’t have to, but I bet there’s a story I’d love to hear,” Tanaka teased, sipping his tea and wiggling his eyebrows.
Ennoshita rolled his eyes, as he was accustomed to doing when in Tanaka’s general vicinity. “They’re coconut.”
Tanaka shrugged. “Okay? I take it you don’t like coconut?”
“I hate coconut,” Ennoshita confessed, glancing around quickly to make sure they were alone. “Suga-san gave them to me when he came back from Switzerland, I can’t give back a gift!”
With a laugh, Tanaka grabbed the box and read the blurb on the back. “Seriously? I thought they might’ve been some new bombs from Suga-san, the way you were looking at ‘em,” he snickered.
“I just don’t get why someone would ruin perfectly good chocolate with coconut!” Ennoshita sighed. “I love Toblerones. I mean, really love them. It’s the perfect balance of chocolate and almond and honey, and someone at,” Ennoshita grabbed the box back and checked the manufacturer, “Mondelez International thought it was a good idea to stick some coconut in?”
He gave the box back to a slightly stunned Tanaka. “Why? Why would you do that? That’s practically blasphemy!” Giving up all pretences of calmness and serenity, Ennoshita threw his hands up. “Some godless heathen thought they could improve on perfection and added fucking COCONUT? What the fuck, honestly!”
“Alright, I believe you, calm down,” Tanaka amended.
Ennoshita shook his head. “No!” he crossed his arms over his chest petulantly. “Coconut is the worst! It tastes like air and smells like disappointment, and the texture’s like biting into a bar of soap! What the hell is it doing in something as delicious as chocolate? And don’t even get me started on fucking Bounty bars! There’s half a millimeter of chocolate that tricks you into thinking it’s going to be good, but no! Fucking. COCONUT. 99,99% of that goddamn disgrace is coconut.”
Ennoshita snapped out of his ranting mode when Tanaka snorted. The medic had set down his mug and was covering his mouth and shaking his head, trying so hard to keep from laughing.
Tanaka waved a hand apologetically, letting a few snorts of laughter escape. “I’m sorry! I’ve never seen anyone get so worked up about coconuts,” he chuckled, grinning so hard it hurt his cheeks.
Ennoshita blushed furiously, and he promptly let his forehead hit the table. “Oh god. This is embarrassing.”
“Nah, I think it’s cute,” Tanaka teased, adoring the way the tips of Ennoshita’s ears pinked. Before the younger man had a chance to make a rebuttal, he lifted the box. “Since you don’t want these and can’t give ‘em back, mind if I give ‘em to Sis? She loves coconut-stuff.”
“Uh, sure,” Ennoshita nodded, then cleared his throat and hoped his blush would vaporize. “At least I won’t have to throw them away.”
Tanaka shook his head, grabbing his mug again. “Nah, she’ll be pissing honey when I throw this at her. Maybe she’ll even buy me a Christmas present!”
“Does she usually not buy you a present?” Ennoshita asked, raising an eyebrow curiously.
“She keeps threatening, but I’ve so far gotten one every year, and I’m not planning on wrecking the curve,” Tanaka announced.
“Smart man,” Ennoshita agreed. He took the cup Tanaka had brought him and finally took a sip.
Just the way he liked it. Black tea, dash of milk. He didn’t think Tanaka knew how he liked his tea, but here it was.
Damn it.
“Speaking of presents, you’re into movies, right?”
The sudden question threw him a bit, but he recovered fast enough. “Um, yeah. Why?”
“Wanna have a movie night with me? Sis brought me a box full of old movies I’d kept at her place, saying she didn’t wanna play storage anymore,” Tanaka rambled. “You like old movies, right? Black and white?”
Ennoshita smiled. “Yeah, I love black and white movies. How’d you know? I don’t think I’ve spent that much time rambling about it.”
Tanaka, uncharacteristically bashful, hid his face behind his mug. “You said something a few weeks back, when you were doing inventory in the hangar. Anyway, you in?”
“Absolutely.”
They clinked their cups together. “When and where?” Ennoshita asked, taking a long sip afterwards.
“What time do you get off today? I’ve got a three-day leave,” Tanaka shrugged.
Ennoshita did the math quickly in his head. “It’s about three o’clock now, so I should be done by seven.”
“Great! I’ll come by your room at, like, seven thirty, seven forty-five-ish?” Tanaka wiggled his fingers in the air. “I’m assuming you’ll want to change into something more comfortable than a suit. Not that you don’t look nice in a waistcoat,” he corrected hurriedly.
Well, damn. Ennoshita kept getting blindsided by him today. “You assume correctly,” he smiled in return.
Tanaka opened his mouth to say something more when the door slightly to the left of Ennoshita’s desk opened and Daichi poked his head out. “Ennoshita?”
“Yes, boss?” Ennoshita turned his attention to their boss.
Daichi looked back and forth between the two of them before focusing on Ennoshita. “Would you mind getting me the numbers from last quarter, and the same period last year? Expense reports included?”
“Sure, I’ll have them for you as soon as possible.” His mind was already working out where to find the requested files.
“Take your time,” Daichi smiled, glancing at Tanaka knowingly. “Sorry to interrupt.” He disappeared back into his office with a small smirk.
Tanaka stared after him, looking thoughtful for a moment before turning back to Ennoshita. “So I’ll see you then?”
The words were out of Ennoshita’s mouth before he could stop them. “It’s a date.”
He wanted to punch himself. Why’d he have to go and say that? Now tonight was going to be awkward as hell, and Tanaka would never want to talk to him again or bring him tea or listen to him rant about movies or his never-ending hatred of all things coconut—
“Great, glad we’re on the same page!” Tanaka hopped off his desk, waving the chocolate box and raising his cup as a goodbye. “See you later!”
His smile, bright as ever, seemed relieved at the same time. Either that or Ennoshita was imagining things.
Either way, the stupid grin was still on his face twenty minutes later when he brought Daichi the files he’d asked for.
“You seem happy,” Daichi commented, a tiny grin twitching on his lips.
Ennoshita felt his cheeks burn. He wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “Um…”
“Not that it’s any of my business,” Daichi started, flipping open the first file on the pile, “but it’s a good look. Did Tanaka have something to do with it?”
That he did know how to respond to. “Sort of. We’re going to watch a couple of films later.”
Daichi’s smirk widened, morphing into a smile. “Sounds like fun. About tomorrow—”
“I won’t be late,” Ennoshita assured him, slightly worried that Daichi might think he was being irresponsible, staying up late watching films when he had work early in the morning.
Daichi shook his head, smile never leaving his face. “You haven’t been so far. Your punctuality is astounding and slightly terrifying, to be honest. What I was going to say is you can take tomorrow off.”
Ennoshita’s mind completely blanked out. This was happening at an alarming rate today. Maybe he should see Suga-san about it? “Um, what?”
“You’ve been working hard lately, you deserve a night off without worrying about being late the next day.”
“Are you sure?” Ennoshita asked, trying contain his delight. “Because I can come in at my usual hour.”
Daichi flicked his wrist dismissively. “We don’t have any active operations right now, most of our staff is on leave anyway, and all I’ve got are the budget renewals for the rest of the year. There’s really not much to do around here, so might as well take a day off,” he reasoned.
“In that case, I’d be happy to,” Ennoshita nodded. “Thanks, boss. You planning on taking the day off as well, then?”
Daichi nodded with a smile, glancing through the files. “Nothing short of an international crisis is going to make me get out of bed before ten am,” he said with an air of finality. He looked up at Ennoshita with a grin. “Now get the hell out of my office so you won’t be late to your date.”
Ennoshita grinned. “Yes sir,” he nodded and walked out. Only when he closed the door behind him did he realize exactly what Daichi had said. He blanched and covered his mouth before he could make any embarrassing noises.
*
Ennoshita closed his computer at exactly 6:55 pm. After making sure his desk was in order and ready to be abandoned for a full day, he stepped away from his desk and knocked on Daichi’s door. “Boss? I’m done, so I’ll be off now,” he called.
“Alright, have a good night!” came the reply from behind the door. Had Ennoshita not known Suga-san had entered the office only ten minutes prior, he would’ve probably opened the door to tell his boss he was leaving to his face. However, since he knew Suga-san was there, he wouldn’t open that door if his life depended on it.
He strolled away, putting his hands into his pockets. He felt pretty good, if a bit nervous. If he’d understood correctly, it was a date. A date-date. Unless he’d misunderstood, in which case he wouldn’t be able to see Tanaka without wanting to kill himself out of sheer embarrassment.
He reached his rooms and leaned against the door. Maybe he should’ve said no. But he wanted to watch movies with Tanaka. And Tanaka had said they were on the same page, meaning he meant the invitation as a date.
Shit. What if he’d misunderstood?
He glanced at the clock, noting that it was only ten minutes past six. He had plenty of time to change into something more comfortable. He headed towards his bedroom, unbuttoning his waistcoat on the way. He paused at the door as a thought struck him.
Tanaka had implied he looked good in a waistcoat. He looked down at himself, his hands frozen halfway down the neat row of buttons. Did he look good in a waistcoat? He’d never really thought about it. Sure, he worked out, but he was no Iwaizumi-san. Hell, he was no Tanaka!
Ennoshita shook the thought out of his head and got undressed quickly, changing into a pair of black sweatpants and a dark grey t-shirt. If they were watching movies, date or no date, he wanted to be comfortable.
He busied himself by organizing his laundry pile to be washed tomorrow (if he had a day off, he might as well do something useful) and contemplated on changing his sheets, eventually deciding against it. Before he knew it, a knock signalled Tanaka’s arrival to his door.
No more time to be nervous. He took a steadying breath before walking to the door and opening it.
Tanaka was leaning on the door frame with a smile. “Hey,” he greeted, taking a step closer. “You ready?”
Oh, dear. Where had that smile been hiding all his life?
“Um, yeah,” Ennoshita nodded with a grin, pointing his thumb towards the kitchen. “Need me to grab any snacks? I’m not sure I have any to be honest, but I probably could find some popcorn?”
Tanaka shook his head. “Nope, I’ve got it. Come on,” he said and stepped back, giving Ennoshita room to come out and close the door after him.
“Where are we going?” Ennoshita asked curiously as they headed down the hall.
“You’ll see,” Tanaka grinned, shoving his hands into his pockets.
Ennoshita raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. He recognized their route as one leading towards the chopper hangar, but he couldn’t fathom how watching movies was going to work in such an awkward space.
Before they reached the hangar, Tanaka stopped and turned to him. “Um, before we go in, I wanted to ask something.”
Ennoshita frowned. “What is it?”
Was that a blush on Tanaka’s face, or was he seeing things? Oh dear god in heaven, it was adorable.
“I was informed that I might’ve not been exactly clear about my ‘intentions’,” Tanaka said, making air quotes around ‘intentions’ to emphasize whatever point he was trying to make. “I kind of forgot when you said ‘it’s a date’, and I just assumed…” he trailed off, then shook his head. “Alright. I meant to ask you out on a date. If that bothers you, we can just ignore that and watch a couple of films as friends, or whatever.”
Ennoshita couldn’t help it. He reached out and put his hand over Tanaka’s mouth to stop the rambling before it got out of hand. “I’m okay with this being a date. In fact, I was hoping for it,” he confessed with a smile.
Tanaka blinked a couple of times before Ennoshita could feel him smile beneath his hand. He removed it immediately, mostly to not deprive himself of the sight.
“Alright.” Tanaka grinned happily. “Good. This is good. Come on, let’s go before I make an even bigger ass of myself,” he grabbed Ennoshita’s hand and pulled him into the hangar.
Ennoshita tried to not freak out over the impromptu hand-holding. He was mostly successful. “Now I’m kind of curious as to who informed you?”
“Promise not to laugh?” Tanaka asked, leading Ennoshita past the MedEvac chopper and towards the back of the hangar.
“I’ll try my best,” Ennoshita said honestly.
“I’ll take what I can get,” Tanaka laughed. “Sis. She said I was being a vague tool and told me to come clean before we got started, just so we’d be on the same page. She said thanks for the chocolate, by the way. Took her like 15 minutes tops to inhale it.”
Ennoshita laughed. “She’s a smart woman. Horrible taste in chocolate, but smart.”
Tanaka shrugged. “One of us has to be, I guess,” he stepped over to the wall and hit the light switch.
Ennoshita’s eyes widened. Tanaka had hung a large screen on the wall and set up a projector on top of some crates on the opposite wall. In the space between the projector and the screen, there was a folded-out couch he recognized as the one that was usually in the rec room commandeered by field agents. Throw pillows and blankets covered the couch, and it looked the single most comfortable thing he’d ever seen.
“Did you set this up today?” he asked incredulously, looking at Tanaka with wide eyes.
Tanaka nodded bashfully. “Noya and Asahi helped out with the couch.”
“Isn’t that the couch from the rec room?” Ennoshita pointed out.
“It might be,” Tanaka said, winking. “Let’s keep that between us, alright? I don’t wanna wake up to a pissed-off Bokuto in my room demanding to know where his couch is.”
Ennoshita nodded with a grin. “Of course.”
“Have a seat! I’ll get out snacks and start the movie,” Tanaka hastily said, pointing at the couch before heading off to the small fridge tucked neatly away in the corner.
Ennoshita sat down and made himself comfortable. It was as comfy as it looked, he noted. “What are we watching? You didn’t specify before.”
The opening credits began just as Tanaka sat down next to him, and he didn’t get a chance to reveal the film before Ennoshita recognised the film. “Oh my god! The Maltese Falcon? How do you have this?” He turned to look at Tanaka in wonder.
“I’ve had it since I don’t know,” Tanaka shrugged, settling in next to him and putting a pile of different snacks in front of them. “I remember you telling me about Humphrey Bogart, so I figured maybe you wouldn’t be opposed to watching a couple of his films.”
“You’re…” Ennoshita spread his arms out and shrugged. “How do you remember that!”
Tanaka smiled. “I listen when you talk, you know.”
Ennoshita bit his lip to stave off the inevitable blush. “You keep surprising me,” he admitted, looking back at the film. “I kind of like it.”
Tanaka looked at the screen, trying to will the blush away. He was a tough guy, dammit, he didn’t blush!
They watched the film in comfortable silence, Ennoshita piping up every now and then with a small piece of trivia. Tanaka thought it was fucking adorable.
After The Maltese Falcon, Tanaka put on Casablanca. “This is my favourite,” Ennoshita grinned . “The ending’s the best thing in film history.”
“I haven’t seen this yet,” Tanaka replied, raising his eyebrow, “so don’t go spoiling it for me!”
Ennoshita’s eyes widened and he turned fully to face Tanaka. “You’ve never seen this?”
Tanaka shook his head with a small grin. “Nope. I’m more ‘watch Die Hard 15 times in a row and quote John McClane for a week’ –type a guy,” he admitted, leaning back on the couch with his arms slung over the backrest.
Ennoshita raised an eyebrow. “15 times in a row?”
Tanaka nodded with a grimace. “Yeah, that might be why me and Noya no longer have a TV here,” he explains sheepishly. “Boss didn’t appreciate us yelling ‘Yippiekay-ay, motherfuckers’ while we were extracting someone. Or assigning vaguely German-sounding names to all hostiles we saw.”
Ennoshita laughs hard enough to almost cry. “Oh my god, you idiots,” he snickers once the initial glee wears off. “So that’s why he flinched when Kuroo said he’d ‘John McClane this bitch’ when he was going up an air vent to get rid of a rat a while back.”
Tanaka promptly lost it at that. Within seconds they were laughing their heads off, not unlike a pair of deranged hyenas. They had to start the film all over again because they missed the beginning, and Ennoshita flat-out refused to let Tanaka start watching it from 10 minutes in.
Halfway into the film, Tanaka was so into it he surprised even himself. “Okay, I don’t get why this Laszlo-guy is so great that Ilsa can’t choose.” He pointed at the character on screen. “Sure, he’s some great resistance leader, but she’s got Rick here mooning over her like they’d never separated!”
Ennoshita grinned. He had no idea Tanaka was a closet romantic like this. “He’s her husband,” he reminds Tanaka, even if he agrees completely with what he’s saying.
“Yeah, but he ditched her in Paris for god knows how long,” Tanaka pointed out. “He’s got no reason to expect her to come running back after that, but she does, which is the part that really makes me tick.”
“Well aren’t you the feminist,” Ennoshita commented with a raised eyebrow.
Tanaka rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, well, grow up with Saeko as your sister and you learn all sorts of things about women’s rights and equality,” he muttered.
Ennoshita leaned in with a knowing smile. “I won’t tell anyone about your dirty little secret,” he teased, then bit his lip to keep himself from laughing.
Tanaka leaned in and kissed him before he could stop himself. Ennoshita’s eyes widened at the lighting-fast move, and Tanaka’s pulled back before he could even think about responding.
“Shit,” Tanaka covered his mouth, his eyes wide as saucers. “I’m sorry, you were so cute and I couldn’t help it.”
Ennoshita stared at him for a moment. Then he started laughing.
Tanaka blinked, his hand dropping on his lap. “Uh…” he trailed off, unsure of how to proceed.
Ennoshita, however, knew exactly how to proceed. He stopped laughing, the smile remaining on his lips as he leaned in to kiss Tanaka, much slower than the other had.
It didn’t take Tanaka more than two seconds to kiss him back. He lifted a hand and almost hesitantly set it on Ennoshita’s cheek, thumb caressing his cheekbone lightly.
Ennoshita pulled back, smiling and giving his lip a tiny lick that didn’t escape Tanaka’s attention. “That was nice,” he whispered.
Tanaka nodded. “It was,” he agreed, grinning. “Wanna do it again?”
On the screen, Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman debated, argued, and loved each other, completely forgotten by the two on the couch as they exchanged slow and careful kisses, quiet laughs and small touches.