Chapter Text
Hayato lounged under a sun umbrella at a roadside café, taking in the sight of Osaka castle in the distance.
It’s a beautiful day, especially now that I can relax and enjoy the scenery without having to worry about being punched in the face by a giant moth, he thought to himself. Heh, if you told me just a few months ago that giant bugs kidnapping entomology professors on a regular basis would be one of my concerns, I’d have laughed in your face… it’s funny how things change.
His musing was interrupted with the clatter of plates as Taki returned from the service counter with their lunches.
“Hmm? What’s got you laughing?” he asked as he pulled out a chair on the opposite side of the table.
“I was just thinking that my life has undergone quite a… metamorphosis, as of late.” Hayato responded.
Taki froze in the middle of taking his seat, staring owlishly across the table at Hayato.
“…Please tell me you’re not going to turn into another one of those man-sized cocoons. Grasshoppers don’t make cocoons, do they?! Stop laughing, I’m serious about this!” Taki gestured animatedly as he leaned over the table, trying to read Hayato’s expression through the man’s cheerful guffaws.
“Ha ha ha ha! No no, that was just a pun. I’m Shockered that you took me so seriously though. Ha ha ha!”
Taki groaned as he finally sank down into his chair and dropped his head on the table.
“All that excitement over a bad joke… you really do know just how to bug me sometimes.”
Hayato started laughing even harder. Taki looked up a confused expression, which soon dawned with realization, and soured again with defeated resignation.
“Ugh, now you even have me doing it… will the injustice never end?”
Hayato eventually managed to stifle his chuckles, though he made no effort to lose his amused smirk. “I suppose I can spare a little mercy as thanks for your hard work.” He raised a dumpling from his plate as if to make a toast. “Here’s to another successful mission!”
Taki snorted and picked up a pork bun to match. “It’s no champagne flute, but I’ll take it. Here’s to another victory!” he cheered.
As they dug in, Hayato noticed Taki glancing at him across the table. He kept pausing as if to speak, only to close his mouth look away again. Eventually, Hayato set down his food and turned to face Taki directly.
“Well? What is it you want to say? You don’t need to hold yourself back on my account.”
“Who says I’m holding something back?” Taki blustered.
Hayato raised an eyebrow. “You’ve had that same indecisive look on your face all day. It hasn’t exactly been subtle, Taki.”
Taki grimaced. “Eesh, I’m really that obvious, huh. I guess I don’t have a choice but to spit it out then.”
Even having said that, he still seemed nervous, curling in on himself and fidgeting in his seat. He spoke with effort, like every word was dragging its way out of his mouth.
“I know we work together well as partners, but lately I’ve realized that… if you’d like… if there’s a chance… that is to say…”
“That is to say wha-”
Hayato was cut off as Taki suddenly straightened with a determined expression.
“Please go out with me!”
Hayato stared speechlessly at Taki with wide eyes. Just when Taki had resolved himself to repeating his declaration, Hayato shook his head rapidly and responded with a sense of affronted finality.
“Absolutely not. I’m not that kind of man.”
Taki drooped as he flushed red with embarrassment. “Oh, my apologies…I’d assumed you weren’t attracted to women…”
Hayato snorted. “Oh, I am gay. I’m just not a homewrecker.”
“Huh?! A homewrecker? What home would you be wrecking anyway?”
Hayato looked at Taki with a mix of bewilderment and condescension in his eyes. “…Yours, obviously. You’re married, remember?”
“I am?!? Wait, I am! Oh my god, I forgot about that!”
“How on earth do you just forget you have a wife?”
“I mean it’s not like I have a ring to remind me…”
“You do know that’s not a good excuse, right?”
“Oh no, I mean! She’s not my wife, she’s my coworker! I mean she is my wife but she isn’t?”
“That sounds like just a bit of a contradiction, now doesn’t it?” Hayato drawled.
Taki sighed and crossed his arms, leaning on the table. “Yoko and I got married in a church as a part of her investigation of potential Shocker bases… as it turns out, she was right on the money, and the church was harboring a Shocker cell that abducted newlyweds. She only ‘married’ me because she wanted some muscle by her side in case things went south…”
“Muscles? You?”
“Hey, not just everyone can take down Shocker goons! Those cyborgs are tough!” Taki spluttered.
“The girls at the motorcycle club seem to do alright…”
“… You do realize you’re talking about a third degree blackbelt and a world-class fencer, right?”
“…I see your point.”
“I’m ashamed to say she ended up needing more than just my muscles to save her from that Gebacondor bat-creature, but fortunately Hongo was there to rescue her. I guess Kamen Riders always find a way to save the day, huh?” He leaned over and nudged Hayato with his elbow a few times, continuing his explanation after drawing a small amused snort from his companion.
“Neither of us treat it as a real marriage; we make jokes about it whenever we report our findings to each other. I mean, it is pretty funny that the biggest lesbian in all of Japan and the FBI’s gayest motorcyclist got hitched as bait for a bat.”
“So it was all for show? You were her ‘beard’, to use the American phrase?”
Taki nodded rapidly. “That’s right! Hell, I don’t just not wear a ring day-to-day, I didn’t wear one at the marriage ceremony either! There’s never been a relationship with less romance!”
“What a relief to hear.”
“What’s that?”
Hayato smiled and said airily, “I was starting to feel pretty guilty about pining after a married man, but if you’re not actually spoken for, that’s just wonderfully convenient. Ah, that’s just so nice.” He then turned back to his lunch as if he hadn’t just swept Taki’s feet out from under him.
“So, so that’s a yes?!”
Hayato hummed to himself. “Well… it could be, if you wanted it to be. I’m just not sure why you’d want it to be, really.”
Taki seemed taken aback. “Why wouldn’t I want it to be?!”
“Well, I’m not really the most forthcoming sort of fellow. You barely know anything about me, you know.”
“Well, that’s why I asked you to go out with me in the first place!”
“It is?”
Taki’s statement seemed to have knocked Hayato off-kilter, and he finally looked back up at his companion. As Hayato searched Taki’s face for any hint of his inner thoughts, Taki met his gaze with the most earnest expression he could muster.
“I asked you because I want to get to know you better! The more time I spend with you, the more I admire you, and the deeper I fall in love. I’m desperate to see all there is to see, by your side. If I feel like this now only knowing you a little bit, I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life learning everything, sharing everything with you.”
“Oh.” Hayato blinked in shock, the tips of his ears pinkening as he dropped eye contact to stare at the space in between them blankly. “…Oh. Okay. I think. I think I maybe understand just a little bit now.” He peeked back up at Taki, and his face was enveloped in a rosy blush as he turned to the side, staring at the hillside as if the wildflowers were suddenly the most interesting thing in the world. Attempting a confident tone that was completely betrayed by his flushed expression, he tacked on, “I suppose I’d like to get to know you… a little bit better too. We can… we can do that together.”
Taki smiled like a sunrise. “I’m looking forward to it.”