Work Text:
The work day starts as it usually does. Haruta rushes into the office nearly 10 minutes late, having helped an old woman walk to her gate or finding a lost child"s parents or something as equally selfless, gets scolded by his seniors and tries to settle down at his desk while catching his breath. It"s a common sight, like seeing Naruse chowing down on french gratin at 7am or Shinomiya quietly doodling in his sketchbook, so nobody thinks twice when Haruta starts groaning to himself like a madman.
At Tenku Peach Airlines, this sort of weirdly comedic behaviour is commonplace, but the cabin attendant sounds more agitated than usual. Shinomiya is the first to notice, peering over his computer to look at the tense incline of Haruta"s back as he slouches over his desk, but he stays silent incase it"s just one of his usual outbursts. He doesn"t react well to prodding, this Shinomiya knows only too well, and it"s too early to have Garuta throwing a fit over his concern. Silently, he goes back to sketching out the curve of Haruta"s neck instead of doing work.
On normal days, when Haruta would arrive in a hurry after his morning routine (which realistically only consisted of his alarm clocks never working and having to hightail it out of the dorms before Naruse decided to crucify him for being a millisecond late), there"d be some stupid call and response with the team. He"d groan, someone would tell him to shut up, he"d groan again and someone would finally have to give in and ask what was up with him this time.
But this time, the room is oddly silent as Haruta simply rests his head on his desk while his shoulders, almost unnoticeably, shake up and down. There"s no screaming and crying for attention from his peers, meaning something has to be seriously wrong.
Across the office, the Tenku Peach Airline staff look at each other with varying degrees of concern. Captain Kurosawa looks like he"s about to have a stroke with the expression he gives Naruse (who only gives a droll stare in return to goes back to busying himself with random Wikipedia articles), Misae is making a pitying face that absolutely doesn"t suit her and Neko is busy showing Arisugawa some cute cat video she found on insta. Maybe some members of the team care more than others, like Karasuma, who eagerly makes hand signals at Kurosawa when he catches his eye, but given that they"re a team... it"s up to them to find out what"s troubling Haruta, right?
Naruse, who has already decided that whatever bothering Haruta is absolutely not worth it, continues to ignore Kurosawa"s pleading stare as he challenges himself to get to philosophy from a page on oden. He"s grown fond of the cabin attendant, yes, but getting involved with Haruta"s weirdness this early in the morning sounds extremely unpleasant. However, 18 pages later and with Kurosawa"s eyes burning a hole into his back, Naruse almost acquits. Haruta"s problem is probably something stupid, like missing out on Shinomiya"s cooking or having to fish a wedding ring out of a toilet (again). Despite his age, Haruta is the most immature out of the team and gets offended by nearly everything.
But before he can do anything, Shinomiya pops out from behind his computer and gives him a look that could kill.
His eyes flicker between the pilot and the mechanic, before clicking out of his tab and deciding that it"s absolutely not worth it getting between these two freaks. If they wanna fight over who gets to ask their precious Haruta what"s wrong, he"s not getting involved. He"ll just eat his gratin outside, even if he gets scolded for this later.
As he exits the room, he passes a brown haired woman entering. Their eyes meet, and Naruse gives an unamused look before turning the corridor.
"What"s up with him?" Hina says as she steps into the office, arms filled with folders she needed to hand off to dispatch. She pauses for a second, sensing the weird energy of the room and drops her gaze to the slumped over man in the corner. "Moreso, what"s up with Haru-chan?"
Still looking over his computer, Shinomiya trades his death glare for a wide eyed look as Hina practically interrupts the tense atmosphere without even thinking. He"s too far away to tell her that Haruta is sulking without the man hearing, instead he starts mouthing at her. "He"s moping."
Hina squints at the mechanic, leaning forward as she tries to read his lips. "He"s...moping?" she turns back to Haruta, eyebrows furrowed. "Are you upset, Haru-chan?"
It"s a simple question, but it sets a fire alight in Captain Kurosawa. Slamming his hands onto his desk, he stands up with a burning fire in his eyes. "HARUTA!" he shouts, a fist raised beside his head, "LET ME CHEER YOU UP-"
He promptly sits back down in embarrassment once the whole office turns to stare at him, adjusting his tie in shame.
Ignoring their captain"s outburst, Shinomiya rolls closer to Hina on his desk chair. "You didn"t have to say it so loudly!" he whisper shouts as he struggles to break on the slippery office tiles. Thankfully, Hina stops the chair with her foot and only gives him a confused stare.
"I just asked him what was wrong? He still came to the office, so it can"t be anything that bad."
A groan interrupts Shinomiya before he can reply, and the duo look over at Haruta"s desk in the corner. His position has changed from a tired slump to resting his face in his hands- he looks like a broken man. Kurosawa makes a high keening noise at the sight, but he"s ignored as usual. Haruta is the type to overreact to everything, but there"s the possibility that something serious actually happened.
Giving the mechanic a curious look, Hina carefully makes her way to Haruta like one would approach a frightened deer. She doesn"t want to scare her friend off, since he doesn"t react especially well to people getting in his business when he doesn"t want it.
"Be careful, Hina-chan! He might bite!" Neko calls out from the other side of the room, snickering to herself when Haruta finally reacts to anything being said. He sits up straight, turning to the woman with a glare.
"Hey, I don"t bite! My canines aren"t even that sharp anymore!" Haruta reaches up to show off his front teeth, before he pauses as he remembers his earlier mood. "Ughhhh, like it even matters!" he slams his head back onto his desk. The entire office winces at the resulting bang, but Haruta doesn"t even make a peep.
Having made her way next to Haruta"s desk, Hina reaches out a hand and slowly rests it on the middle of his back. "Haru-chan, it"s me. Are you...okay?" her hands carefully make circles on his back, and she can feel his muscles relax at the sound of her voice. They"ve been friends for years, and she"s learnt how to calm him down pretty well.
"Hina-chaaaaaan...!" Haruta wails, burying his face into his arms. She just pats his back, urging him to continue. "I"m not....!"
(Shinomiya watches from the side, taking notes. "The power of childhood friends..." he whispers to himself, writing "rub his back like a grieving parent" next to a oddly detailed picture of Haruta"s back muscles.)
Hina"s expression turns to one of pity, carefully maneuvering Haruta"s body so that he"s sitting up and facing her. Her hand is still rubbing circles on his back, in hopes that she can comfort him. "Do you mind telling me what happened? I can"t help you if you keep banging your head on your desk and making noises."
It seems like doing exactly that was Haruta"s only plan, as he slumps down in anguish. The fact that he seems genuinely pained sets off warning bells in Hina"s head, and she squats down so she can look into his eyes. "C"mon, Haru-chan. if you tell me, I might be able to help."
Haruta acquits, mumbling something to himself that Hina can"t make out. When she asks him to repeat himself, he"s almost on the verge of tears. "...Maki"s trip was delayed."
To most, Haruta is a kind but very, very stupid man. He"s prone to overreacting for his own amusement, and takes joy in blowing small issues into a mess bigger than it needed to be. But the stuffy redness of his face tells everybody that what they"re seeing today is a very different side of Haruta, one that he hasn"t shown most people in the room. Hina blinks carefully, face softening at the sight of her closest friend"s tears.
"Oh, Haru-chan..." she coos, a hand dropping to wipe the tears away from his cheeks, "You"ll be okay...is the company keeping Maki-chan back?" he nods, flustered by her fussing over him.
Observing the interaction between the two friends, Shinomiya scratches at the back of his neck. the conversation is just loud enough for everyone eavesdropping to listen in, but the subject of the discussion confuses him. He"s heard Haruta talk about a "Maki" before, though it"s usually in conversation with Hina. There"s a burning sensation in his chest when he realises it could be a girlfriend, but whether he"s jealous for his sake or Hina"s is unknown to him.
It seems like the others in the office are on the same wavelength as him, because Arisugawa leans over her desk and gives haruta an amused giggle. "Haruta, I didn"t know you had a girlfriend!" her words are more playful taunting, but Hina gives her a look that feels foreign on her face- annoyance. Though Arisugawa flinches, Neko elbows her with a similar grin.
"Like Haruta-san could get a girlfriend!"
Off to the side, Kurosawa makes another pained noise, but Shinomiya is the only one who spares him a glance. "Hey, Haruta could get a girlfriend if he wanted." he defends, as if the thought of Haruta with a girlfriend doesn"t make him feel sick to his stomach. "...Is this "Maki" person your girlfriend?" he asks in a small voice, turning to the cabin attendant.
Rather than the typical noisy denial that he"s come to know from Haruta, he tilts his head in a rather calm manner. He still looks incredibly upset, and he awkwardly scratches at his reddening eyes while he looks at Shinomiya in confusion. "Maki isn"t my girlfriend."
Shinomiya knows he isn"t the only one who lets out a sigh of relief, but he hopes his reaction is less noticeable than Kurosawa falling back into his seat with sweat dripping from his brow. "Ah, of course." he nods to himself, rubbing the nape of his neck in embarrassment. Haruta wouldn"t get a girlfriend without telling him, right?
"He"s my husband."
Kurosawa tumbles out of his chair at the revelation, face smacking into the ground. He makes some sort of deranged noise, like a clogged up vacuum cleaner and Shinomiya"s brain can"t decide whether to focus on the captain"s show of idiocy or try and process Haruta"s sudden coming out.
"You have a-" he coughs uncomfortably, staring wide eyed at the man he considered one of his closest friends, "There"s way too many things to process here."
It"s true. The revelation that not only is Haruta into men, but that he"s married to one shocks the office into silence. Their coworker had seemed like the classic straight dude- he"d get flustered around pretty woman, got seriously uncomfortable when their captain would try to awkwardly hit on him and Shinomiya swore he"s spotted some porn mags in his room. Maybe it"s a prank, but Haruta looks confused at everyone"s own confusion.
"You"re kidding, right?" Neko laughs from the other side of the room, "There"s no way you"re married." Despite her words, she also looks shocked at the revelation. The same goes for the two other cabin attendants, who give one another bewildered, but amused looks.
Arisugawa nods, agreeing with her friend"s words. "I could understand dating, but getting married to Haruta sounds horrible. h]He"d be the type of husband to put the reds in with the whites, or forget to turn on the bathroom fan."
He already does that in the dorms, but Shinomiya doesn"t feel like getting involved when he"s trying to emotionally recover. There"s a new warmth in his chest when he realises this means Haruta is into men- but it"s quickly put out by the fact that he"s married, of all things. Not like he had a chance anyways, but why didn"t Haruta ever tell him? They were friends, right?
"Why would I lie?!" Ah, there"s the classic Haruta. His eyes are even more red from where he"s been scratching them, but his earlier upset mood is replaced with annoyance. "He"s my husband, seriously! Do I gotta show you proof or something?!"
Misae snickers to herself. "What, proof of your invisible husband?" At Haruta"s sudden glare, her smile twitches. "I"m kidding, Haruta-san. You have to realise that this is a little sudden. I mean, you"ve never talked about him."
It"s Hina who comes to his defence, patting Haruta"s arm in hopes to calm him down. "It"s against company policy to bring up significant others, and you know Haruta has been worried about breaking rules since day one." she explains with a soft smile. "Plus, Maki-chan has been out of the country for a few years for work, so that"s why you haven"t met him."
Haruta is still pouting despite Hina"s attempts at placating his annoyance. "Do you guys... really think I couldn"t get a partner?" It"s clear he"s fishing for sympathy, but nobody in the office is willing to give him the time of day. There"s a chorus of "yeah, pretty much", with Kurosawa"s muffled sobs and Shinomiya"s quiet words of encouragement in the mix, and it only worsens Haruta"s mood. Hina isn"t exactly sure what he expected- Haruta was the class clown of the office, and it was hard to take him seriously at times. Any opportunity to clown on him would obviously be taken.
Not like she can blame them. She"s known him since highschool and not once has she looked at him and not thought "man, why"d i get stuck with the crybaby?". It"s out of love these days, even if her memories as manager still haunt her even now, so she supposes Haruta should be lucky someone like her sticks by his side. Especially with the one other person who put up with his shit currently stuck in Shanghai on a two year business trip.
Since she knows him way too well at this point, Hina catches Haruta"s flare of anger before anyone else can, and gives him a comforting pat on the shoulder. It"d probably take a while for him to properly calm down, but she"d do her best without Maki there. "Haru-chan, you don"t have to prove yourself to them. I don"t know if Maki-chan would like you showing photos of him to your coworkers."
They both pause and give each other a look. In a display of nonverbal communication that could only occur between a basketball manager and the annoying little benchwarmer, they both decide that Maki would absolutely enjoy being shown off to Haruta"s coworkers and the resulting ego boost would be hell to deal with. With a nod, Hina turns back to the office. "I"ll vouch for him, either way. If Haru-chan wanted to make up a fictional spouse, it"d be a girl with..." she winces at her next words, "a large chest, and not a dude.
"Not even a fictional woman would want to marry him." Neko muses in amusement, though there"s a proud shine in her eyes that makes Hina think her words are more lighthearted than they seem. "But this Maki... he must be a saint, putting up with someone like Haruta."
Shinomiya chuckles uncomfortably, still not having regained his bearings. "Aren"t you being a little too harsh? Sure, Haruta is a little messy-" Kurosawa looks like he"s about to interrupt, but Hina shoots her father a glare that could possibly kill. "But he has his good qualities."
Absolutely not recognizing Shinomiya"s sullen tone of voice, Haruta gives his friend a thankful look. "See? Shino gets it- hey, what do you mean "messy"?"
Haruta and Shinomiya fall into a playful argument, and while the topic of Haruta"s husband is still lingering in everyone"s thoughts, it"s mostly dropped in favour of actually doing work. Hina"s sure it"ll come up later on, but for now she"s relieved that Haruta has seemed to calm down. Honestly, she hadn"t expected him to actually bring up Maki in front of everyone- even if he wasn"t embarrassed by his sexuality, his relationship with Maki was still something very personal to him- but she"s a little proud nonetheless. Even if his coming out mostly consisted of him whining and complaining.
Letting out a sigh, Hina excuses herself from the office after dropping off the folders. Having to deal with Haruta"s attitude this early in the morning was draining, and she wonders how she ever survived morning training back in high school. Just as she settles by a corridor, her phone rings and she glances down at the contact name in slight amusement.
"You know," she says after the call goes through, "You really owe me one."
From across the city, in front of Haruta"s cozy two-floor apartment, Ryouta Maki lets out a soft bout of laughter as he fishes out his keys. "Yeah, I know. beer"s on me tonight." The door swings open, and the feeling of being home rushes over him, "If Haruta doesn"t hog all my time, that is."
Hina hangs up after gagging into the phone, and Maki can"t stop the smile that spreads on his face.
Yeah, it"s good to be back.