Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Paris, the city of love… What could be more romantic than spending the weekend in Paris for Valentine's?

****

"What do you mean we have to cancel our trip?!" Hiroshi shouted into his phone, struggling to keep himself from not throwing the device down to the floor.

"I believe I was being quite clear, Rear Admiral Nakajima," the calm, nonchalant voice of Admiral Bellerose, his immediate superior, came through from the other side. She took a deep breath and sighed, "Look, I know you were looking forward to that trip with Takao, but as you should know, people of your position must put their work ahead of them, even when they don't want to. You must be nearby in case there's any further Siren activity in your area."

"I know, I know…" Hiroshi grumbled, rolling his eyes. Of all the times for there to be a Siren raid on an allied convoy within the jurisdiction of his base, it just had to be now, didn't it…

Admiral Bellerose took on a more sincere tone, "I'll see what I can do to make it up to you, Hiroshi. I don't know exactly what or when, but I guarantee that you'll be able to go on that Paris trip one way or another… Eventually…"

"Thanks, Elizabeth…" he huffed, noticeably calmer than he had previously been.

"It's the least I can do," she replied warmly. "I have some other matters to attend to right now, so I'll have to leave it on this. Say 'hi' to Carol for me, alright?"

"Yes ma'am," was all Hiroshi could say before she hung up.

It was only when he put the phone back into his pocket did he realize that Takao was frozen in place, halfway across the room, staring at him with wide eyes.

"Oh… How much of that did you hear, Takao-chan?"

"Enough," she sighed, beginning to slump while her dog ears drooped lower than usual.

The floor quaked as the suitcase Takao was carrying hit the floor.

He closed the gap between them and placed a reassuring hand atop her shoulder, "I'm sorry."

"There's no need to be," Takao sighed again. The look of defeat in her eyes was undeniable. She hung her head between herself and Hiroshi's chest, and said in monotone, "I understand why, but… I was really looking forward to this trip – it would have been my first time in Europe…"

"It's alright," Hiroshi gently cooed into her ear while rubbing her on the back. After a moment of this, he guided Takao's head back upwards to put them face-to-face again. "I promise that we'll make that trip one day. But for now, let's just take the day off for Valentine's and have a date that day – it doesn't matter where the location is as long as we're together, right?"

"But…" Takao began to protest.

Hiroshi knew exactly what she was going to say next – that was the tone she always used when disagreeing with something work-related.

"Don't stress about it. We'll still be on the base, so if anything happens, we'll be right on top of it."

"I suppose that would be acceptable," Takao nodded.

"Good," Hiroshi took a step back and let go of Takao. "Now go and report our situation to Ooyodo and tell her we'll be back in the office after lunch. I'll go get started on unpacking."

"Right away, Admiral," she said with her usual dutifulness before bowing and promptly making her exit.

****

Word of the cancellation of the couple's trip quickly spread, and over the course of the next two days, they received condolences from what may as well have been everyone stationed on the base.

Despite Hiroshi and Takao's best hopes, no word came back from Admiral Bellerose stating that they could drop the heightened alert status back to normal and go on their Paris vacation.

****

Valentine's Day had come at last, and it was now certain that they would be spending it on the base...

To Hiroshi, today felt like another ordinary day. Sure, he and Takao had already kissed and greeted each other with a 'happy Valentine's Day' the instant they woke up, and he was wearing far more casual attire than his uniform. But that aside, just being on the base right now, knowing that in some alternate timeline, that he and Takao could have been far away on a vacation right now, had him subconsciously thinking about work and all the routines that came with it. He could only imagine what Takao could be thinking right now – she was the more responsible one of them both, after all.

"Hiroshi…?"

Takao's voice was a hazy, but effective call to reality. The world around him suddenly came back into focus in the blink of an eye. An empty mixing bowl and chopping board lay in front of him, reminding him that he was supposed to be helping cook right now.

"…Hiroshi? Are you okay?"

Her voice was much clearer now. She was now waving her hand to get his attention.

"Oh, sorry," Hiroshi awkwardly apologized, scratching his head. "I was spaced out. What do you need, Takao-chan?"

"Eggs."

Hiroshi had just gotten over to the fridge and was about to open it when…

Knock, knock!

It took the both of them a few seconds to register the sound from their door – it was still quite early, and they rarely ever had visitors to their quarters this early in the morning.

They looked at each other, and then back towards the door. Hiroshi, seeing that he was the closest, closed the fridge and went to attend to the visitors. It probably wouldn't take too long, anyways.

The door opened to a quartet of "Bonjour!" with varying degrees of enthusiasm from the four French kansen on the other side – Richelieu, Émile Bertin, Dunkerque, and Joffre.

"Happy Saint Valentine's Day, Admiral~" Richelieu greeted in French, taking a step forward. She continued in English with the tilt of her head, "Have you two eaten yet by chance?"

"No," Hiroshi shook his head.

"We were still preparing ingredients," Takao called out from the kitchen.

"Great!" Émile motioned to Dunkerque and Joffre, who began to roll in a cart filled to the brim with covered plates inside. Meanwhile, Richelieu had grabbed Hiroshi by the arm and was gently leading him to the dining table.

Takao let out a meek, surprised yelp as Émile gracefully snuck up onto her and did the same.

They were accompanied into their seats just as Dunkerque and Joffre rolled the cart up to the table. They promptly removed the lids from the plates, revealing an assortment of chocolate-based breakfast items beneath.

"Oh, you shouldn't have…" Takao murmured as Émile placed a mug of hot chocolate in front of her.

"What ever do you mean, Takao?" Richelieu leaned over, placing her at eye-level with Takao before pouting. "This was the least that we as Frenchwomen could do after hearing about your trip."

"Mhm," Joffre added as she placed another plate down in front of Hiroshi. She said with a sarcastic smile, "Consider this your punishment for having to stay on-base."

A minute later, the four French kansen had gotten almost everything off the cart and onto the table.

"Please enjoy, Admiral, Takao," Dunkerque said after placing the last plate with a slight smile and a bow. "I and all the others did our best to come up with something on such short notice."

"Just let us know when you're finished, and we'll take care of the dishes," Richelieu added on. She beckoned towards her three followers as she grabbed the handles on the cart, "Come, ladies, let's give these two some privacy. We'll be right outside if you need us."

****

"So, what do you think, Takao-chan?" Hiroshi broke the peaceful silence between them that had persisted since they had begun eating. He took a bite out of a pastry before adding, "Sweet, huh?"

Takao finished a piece of chocolate-covered fruit before responding, "It's a tad chocolate heavy."

"Well, it is Valentine's," Hiroshi took a cut out of a piece of French toast that was, of course, covered with a chocolate sauce.

She conceded with a nod as she took a sip from her mug before going, "That is true, but my point still stands…"

They went back to eating for a short while before Takao abruptly broke the silence with a sigh, "Do you think we would be having a similar meal if we were in Paris right now?"

Hiroshi's chewing slowed as he gathered his thoughts.

"Maybe," he finally said, "I'm not too familiar with French cuisine myself, but I guess this looks like something they would eat. And it was made by the French kansen personally, so there's no reason for it to not be."

It was clear that she wasn't satisfied with that answer though, given her continued silence.

Hiroshi placed his fork down and shrugged, "Look, I know you're still upset – I am, too – but we can't just mope about it forever. It'd be bad manners if we ate the food Dunkerque and the others took the time to make for us with complaints on our minds, so let's just enjoy our meal and figure things out from there, alright?"

The mention of manners completely brought Takao back into it. How could she have been so rude to those who were just looking out for her?

She grasped her utensils with a newly-found determination, "Forgive me, Hiro… Let's do exactly that."

"There's nothing to be sorry for," Hiroshi shook his head with a smile. He pushed a basket of bread towards Takao, "You want some more of these? I'm going to finish them in a flash if you don't get any~"

"Sure."

****

After finishing their meal and thanking the French kansen that had provided it, Hiroshi and Takao went out and onto the base for their day-long date. While they thought they knew their own base like the back of their hands, this was thrown straight out the window the second the stepped a foot outside.

They were effectively within a faux Paris. The group led by Richelieu from earlier, plus a few other French kansen, was constantly trailing them, talking amongst themselves in French. They had even gone so far as setting up a mini cardboard Eiffel Tower in the center of the base's plaza! Almost everyone they could see was dressed in their best casual attire – bar the occasional passing of human personnel and kansen in their uniforms, reminding the two that they most certainly were still on their naval base.

It was around lunchtime, as the couple sat on a bench in the plaza, that Hiroshi finally decided to ask Richelieu 'why?', right as a conversation between her and Jeanne was dying down.

"Why?" Richelieu repeated with a single chuckle, just barely holding back the rest of her laughter. Was it not obvious for them?

"For immersion, of course~"

"All this for us?" they asked, their heads tilting inwards into one another.

Richelieu shook her head, "Humility is a wonderful quality to possess, Hiroshi, Takao. However, and I do say this on behalf of everyone – you deserve it!"

Hiroshi thought about it for a second. Did they deserve this treatment? Probably. He knew that he was respected and liked amongst his various subordinates. But trying to replicate Paris on-base all because his trip there was cancelled? That was simply too over-the-top for him… But who was he to stop them if that is what they wanted?

Takao, the humbler one, refuted outright, "But-"

She was interrupted by a new, familiar voice, "That's enough, Takao-nee!"

"C-Choukai?" Takao stammered as her younger sister walked up to her, passing through the surrounding French women. "What are you doing here?"

It was now clear that Choukai had come armed. She carried a large, rectangular case on her back, which she effortlessly swung off her back and placed onto the ground. Her dexterous hands made quick work of opening the case, and seconds later, she had produced her weapon – her violin.

"Choukai is here to make Takao-nee and Hiroshi-sama feel better through song!" she exclaimed as she put her bow to the strings.

However, Choukai's shouts were soon replaced by the beautiful sounds of her playing, as her body swayed rhythmically, and her fingers danced across the neck of the instrument. After a few measures, she began singing…

…in French?!

Some of the crowd that surrounded them gasped at this revelation, but not Richelieu. She quietly began whispering the translation of the lyrics – which were, of course, romantic – to the couple in English.

Choukai spent the next few moments with all eyes on her, calmly and beautifully performing as she always did. However, her eyes were locked onto Takao and Hiroshi, reminding them that the performance, despite its publicity, was exclusively for them.

Now in a relaxed state, their hands wandered towards each other. There was no hesitation when they touched, and their fingers quickly found themselves locked together as the world around them faded away to just the two of them and Choukai's music.

It was only until a minute or so after Choukai had finished did they realize the fact.

"Well done, Choukai," Hiroshi awkwardly clapped, noticing that everyone was looking at him and Takao now, not Choukai.

"That must have been very difficult," Takao added on, "Singing in French while playing."

"Oh, it was nothing, Takao-nee and Hiroshi-sama," Choukai giggled, taking a bow. She turned to the audience and struck a pose before returning to Takao and Hiroshi, "Choukai is a well-rounded idol! This is nothing she can't handle! And besides, Choukai had an excellent teacher~"

She pointed her bow at the crowd. At the end of the imaginary line it created, stood Richelieu. She smiled and waved as she received a soft applause.

"That was only the prelude!" Choukai's idol voice and presence dominated the area, quickly drawing the crowd's attention back to her.

From within the crowd, Z35, Seattle, San Diego, and Naka had appeared, wielding their own instruments, looking ready to roll. The audience squealed with excitement.

"This show is just getting started!"

****

Eventually, Hiroshi and Takao got tired of the well-intended, yet uncanny French atmosphere around them. Everyone from Ooyodo and Akashi, to Saratoga and North Carolina, to even Hood and Edinburgh, insisted that they were actually French, and had some gimmick prepared to prove it.

When asked for some private time, Richelieu quickly agreed with the idea, and was followed up by Dunkerque offering to cook dinner for them before leaving the couple alone for the rest of the night.

However, Takao was quite insistent on doing the cooking herself, and allowing the French entourage to go their own ways. After some light-hearted 'arguing', Dunkerque eventually compromised by allowing Takao and Hiroshi free use of the restaurant she maintained on-base for the night…

"Takao-chan, I want to help you…" Hiroshi groaned from over the counter.

"No," Takao adamantly declined, the rhythm of her knife cuts unchanging.

"Please, Takao-chan~?" He tried imitating Atago's tone and puppy eyes, "We cook together all the time! And what about this morning, huh? You were fine with my assistance then!"

"I wasn't feeling festive then," she cast her gaze downwards to dedicate her full attention to cutting – her rhythm was now noticeably faster.

"Well," Hiroshi leaned over the counter. "Remember that in the West, it's usually the guy that does all the work today. That's how it's probably done in France, you know?"

Takao sighed and shook her head. That tenacity of his was something she liked about Hiroshi, but her mind was set. The way Western people celebrated – really? They were both still Japanese, so…

The blade of Takao's knife fell abruptly onto the wooden board.

She had forgotten to make chocolate. The quintessential part of this holiday! She cursed at herself internally. She should have remembered, even though she had spent the last few days disinterested in Valentine's…

"Uh… A-Actually, Hiro…" She tried her best, to sound as normal as possible, although she knew she had probably failed at that already with her stutter. "Could you cut the rest of these vegetables? Then trim the meat after that?"

"…Sure!" Hiroshi agreed after a second of hesitation. It was obvious he was a bit confused, but he thankfully didn't press any further, to which Takao silently thanked the gods.

As Hiroshi got to work, Takao put herself into a corner and pulled out her phone. She didn't like relying too heavily on that person in matters of her relationship to the Admiral, but desperate times called for desperate measures…

"Atago. I need your help," Takao typed into the device.

A minute passed with no response.

Strange. Atago was usually on top of her texts, especially when it came to ones that she received from Takao…

"Atago?"

Still no response.

"This isn't funny."

Nothing.

"Fine…" Takao murmured, making sure not to be loud enough for Hiroshi to hear her. Thankfully, he was less skilled in his knifework than she was, so he would be working on those vegetables for a while…

Takao navigated to the texts for the next best person to help her out.

"Choukai. Are you there?"

Fortunately, the response was immediate this time.

"Takao-nee! How's your date with Hiroshi-sama? Do you need Choukai's music again? Tell Choukai your wishes, and they will be granted!"

Takao had no time for pleasantries. She was sure that Choukai would understand.

"What is the fastest chocolate item I can make right now?"

"Ohhh… So that's how it is. Forgot to make chocolates, Onee-chan? Well, what sort of ingredients do you have on-hand?"

Takao's grip on her phone tightened as she read through Choukai's words, embarrassed at how quickly she had figured out the reason as to why she asked about chocolates in the first place. She took a heavy breath before calmly returning to type her next message.

"I'm in Dunkerque's restaurant. I have everything there at my disposal."

"Ice cream, perhaps?"

That was it! She quickly typed her thanks to Choukai before going off to the office where Dunkerque kept her recipe books – she recalled seeing a dessert one when Dunkerque showed her around earlier before leaving.

Now that Takao thought of it, couldn't she just have looked through the dessert books in the first place instead of going to ask Atago and Choukai? She shook her head at her lack of foresight – that was definitely something that she needed to train on…

After finding and subsequently retrieving the book from the shelf, she began to flip through it. Cakes… Pastries… Candies… There it was. Ice cream.

The recipe was fairly simple – the ingredients consisted of milk, cream, and cocoa powder mainly, and the preparation seemed easy enough for her.

However, the issue Takao came across was the time it took for the ice cream mixture to… Well, become ice cream. She didn't have half-day that Dunkerque's notes said it would take for it to solidify – she needed it within the next hour or two!

But at the same time, Takao didn't want to give up on it, that just wasn't her style. She also hadn't made ice cream before, so this was a valuable learning experience in her eyes!

Takao stood in the middle of the office, staring at the book for a few moments until a singular helpful thought came to mind – maybe Dunkerque could help her?

She pulled out her phone and navigated to Dunkerque's contact information and began to compose a new text for her, "Hello, Dunkerque. I want to make ice cream, but am concerned about the amount of time it will take to freeze. Is there any way to speed this process up? Thanks!"

However, she now faced another issue – this was the very first time she had texted Dunkerque. They hadn't interacted that much before… Was she being too pushy? Was her word choice and tone right? Several anxious thoughts emerged into Takao's thoughts as her thumb hovered over the 'send' button.

She paced around in a circle for a while before finally deciding to peek out the office door and into the kitchen to check on Hiroshi's progress…

Takao almost gasped when she saw him – from what she could see, he was done with the vegetables already and was now onto the meat! She had to hurry…

Steeling herself, she took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and tapped the 'send' button.

Takao could have sworn she felt her heart stop when she saw the 'read' notification. The next second, she could have sworn she was about to have a heart attack as she saw that Dunkerque was typing a reply message.

"Hello, Takao! I hope your date with the Admiral is going well. About your ice cream situation… I believe that liquid nitrogen could be a solution to your dilemma..."

Liquid nitrogen? Takao didn't recall seeing any of that around here…

"…but for safety reasons, it would require that I be present and do the freezing process for you. Would you be fine with that?"

Having Dunkerque be present? That would almost certainly make it obvious that Takao was making last-minute chocolates…

"Sorry, Dunkerque, but I can't. Is there any other way?"

It took a few moments for her to respond.

"Well… I did find a cruder method. But it should work! I'm sending you a link now!"

****

Now that Takao's issue regarding what to make was solved, she now had to keep Hiroshi from finding out what she was doing…

She had set herself up at a station behind Hiroshi, keeping her ice cream ingredients on a small cart hidden to his eyes beneath the counter. On top, she had a bag of onions for the purpose of making a French onion soup, alongside one of Dunkerque's cookbooks opened up to the relevant page; it also made good cover for her ice cream materials.

"Are you sure you don't need help back there, Takao-chan?"

Hiroshi turned back, catching Takao off guard. Her shoulders stiffened as she put down the bowl of ice cream mixture she was working on and picked up her knife to begin chopping onions again.

"Oh not at all," she put up a sweet smile. "Just stay focused on browning that meat, please, Hiro~"

"Hai, hai~" he affirmed enthusiastically, turning his eyes back to the pot in front of him.

With a sigh of relief, Takao returned to tend her ice cream mixture.

****

The biggest challenge concerning Takao's ice cream was indeed the freezing. The method that Dunkerque had shared with Takao involved placing a container of ice cream mixture into a larger container filled with a salt and ice mixture, wrapping said larger container with an insulating material, and then shaking it for a few minutes; apparently, the salt and ice mixture made it easier to freeze things. She made note in the back of her mind to ask someone smart like Ooyodo or Akashi about how that worked later.

Thinking that Hiroshi would catch onto this too easily, Takao tried freezing her plain chocolate ice cream mixture the old-fashioned way, inside the freezer. But after checking in on it an hour and a half later, as the two wrapped up their cooking, she expectedly discovered the ice cream to still be mostly liquid.

However, her luck had not run out. Hiroshi had decided to retrieve fresh clothes from home, as their current ones were dirtied from cooking. Normally a bit of mess was no big deal, but it was Valentine's after all - the standards were a fair bit higher today…

She had just finished transferring the ice cream to a new container by the time Hiroshi returned.

****

After nearly two and a half hours of preparation and cooking, dinner was finally served. Hiroshi and Takao sat at a small table, just within arm's reach across from each other, in the center of the restaurant's dining room. It had already been dark for quite a while, and the room was dimly lit by a handful of candles.

Their food sat atop a small cart, their table being too small to bare their plates alongside the serving bowls – in the center, lay a traditional beef stew that they had found in the very front of Dunkerque's cookbook; to the side, a heaping bowl of mashed potatoes; various roasted vegetables; bread; and finally, a pot of French onion soup.

"Itadakimasu," the two said in unison before picking up their utensils.

"How is it?" Hiroshi asked expectantly after seeing Takao swallow her first bite of the stew, which had been mostly his work.

Takao, meanwhile, had already gone for a second – her answer was clear. However, she did give a vocal response once she had finished, "Excellent, Hiro. It's very rich."

He triumphantly nodded his agreement, "Thank you, Takao-chan. I made sure to pour all of my love for you into it~"

"Stop it, Hiro… That's too cheesy…" Takao murmured as she buried her face in her hands.

Cheesy or not, Takao couldn't help but blush. It was that straight-forward nature of his affection that she had grown to love about him, especially after their misunderstanding-filled pre-relationship era… But gods, that was such an embarassing line.

"What do you mean 'too cheesy'? You're blushing right now!"

Takao clutched her face harder to try and hide it.

"No, I'm not…"

"There's no need to deny it, Takao-chan~"

The sudden grasp of Hiroshi's hands around her wrists caused Takao's grip to weaken, allowing him to easily move her hands to the side. Seeing Hiroshi's smug grin only made Takao's face turn a darker shade of red…

"You need to be more honest with yourself," she could hear Hiroshi saying, his voice sounding like it was coming closer and closer until…

She recoiled back as something impacted her forehead – it was Hiroshi's finger… Her hands flew off her face and into a defensive position in front of her.

"I-I am!" Takao said, waving her hands frantically. "It's just that what you said was so embarassing! P-Please don't say something like that again…."

"Noted," the grin on Hiroshi's face was growing wider by the second, "I'll do my best to say more things like that in the future, my lovely Takao-chan~"

"You're no different than Atago!" Takao groaned, slumping forward in her chair briefly as Hiroshi let out a hearty chuckle.

Still somewhat frustrated, Takao picked up her spoon to eat some of the soup. However, before she could even dip the utensil into the bowl, she was reminded – what did Hiroshi think about it?

"Hiro," she chimed, now back in her normal tone, "Do you like the soup I prepared?"

"Did you pour your love into it, Takao-chan~?" he asked with a cheeky grin.

However, his grin slowly eroded as Takao simply glared at him, refusing to say anything that would fuel his fire.

They kept at this staring game for a moment before Hiroshi called it quits with a single, loud, sigh, picking up his own spoon and placing it into his bowl of soup. However, as his spoon made contact with the bottom of the bowl that he had a sudden intrusive thought – what if he teased Takao by faking to gag and choke on her soup?

He quickly shoved the thought from his head. While Takao always wanted herself to appear as a bastion of level-headedness, her ego was still rather fragile, regardless of how much she had improved over the years. This was not the time nor place to mess around and tease Takao like this.

He had only begun to raise the spoon from the bowl when Takao asked, "What were you just thinking about, Hiro?"

"Hm?" He curiously tilted his head sideways before placing the spoon in his mouth and quickly swallowing. "I like the soup, Takao-chan."

"Thank you, Hiro, but could you tell me what thought just ran through your head?" her voice came through, sharp as her katana. She shivered a bit, "The expression you just made was… quite something, indeed…"

Hiroshi paused for a second. There was no way he had made a face. And even more, there was no way that Takao could tell that he was thinking about something she probably wouldn't take well to… Right?

And Takao took advantage of this pause.

"Your silence isn't helping." She leaned closer to him and stared deeply into his eyes. No matter where Hiroshi tried to turn his gaze to, he could not escape Takao's glare.

"Well…" He tried to stall for a few more seconds, before ultimately deciding to come clean to her. They had already had their share of misunderstandings, and this was not something he wanted to intentionally add to that pile.

Hiroshi said through grit teeth, "I was thinking of teasing you by pretending to gag and choke on the soup…"

A sigh escaped her lips before she turned them inwards and shut her eyes forcefully.

Hiroshi's muscles froze as Takao sharply inhaled. The phrase "I'm sorry, Takao-chan" was already forming on his mouth.

And then Takao calmly exhaled.

"There's no need to apologize, Hiro," she said with a weak smile. "It was only a thought, and you were honest about it on top of that, so there's no harm done."

"However," her expression went deadpan, "I won't deny that hearing that made me a little bit angry…"

"How can I make it up to you, then?" Hiroshi asked with a hint of desperation in his voice – he didn't want to see Takao be even more upset on top of what had already happened with their vacation.

"Your apology can be…" Takao's hands clapped together as she said with a devious grin, "Sparring with me~!"

Hiroshi's spine shivered as he processed the phrase she had just said. Had she said 'training', he would not be so concerned – in fact, he enjoyed sword practice with her. It was one of the things that Takao was truly passionate about and on top of that, was a good bonding activity.

On the contrary, 'sparring' brought out a completely different side of her. Despite what she may say sometimes, Takao's swordplay was world class – an amateur-at-best practitioner like Hiroshi stood no chance against her. She had utterly destroyed Hiroshi every single time they sparred. Maybe it was just her fighting instinct activating, or perhaps her will to always learn and self-improve from everything… What was known, however, was that Hiroshi was not too fond of sparring with Takao.

After observing Hiroshi silently contemplate his 'punishment' for a brief moment, Takao adjusted her glasses before contently nodding to herself and going back to eating.

It was then when another idea came to Hiroshi's mind – he hadn't said anything about the glasses other than acknowledging them after she had come back from changing into fresh clothes.

"You know, Takao-chan," he said sweetly, "I know I say it all the time when you wear them, but you look so pretty with your glasses on~"

She paused to swallow before looking back up at him, the glasses only emphasizing her blank stare, "I'm glad these have the same effect on you every time I wear them, Hiro. I truly am. But I know what you're trying to do. Flattery isn't going to make me change my mind."

Having no comeback to that, Hiroshi chuckled once before going back to eating with a half-serious, half-joking frown.

****

"Do you have room left for dessert, Hiro?" Takao asked as they were finishing up their plates.

"Of course!" He answered with an enthusiastic nod.

Takao stood up from her seat and continued, "I'll go whip something up while you start the cleanup."

"Mhm," he nodded his agreement before standing up himself and beginning to take up their used plates.

While Hiroshi did that, Takao went to check on her ice cream. Although she was a bit anxious as she opened the freezer, that weight was soon lifted off her chest as she saw the ice cream to still be frozen inside. She hurried to get a bowl to plate up the ice cream before Hiroshi had finished on his end.

However, it was right as she finished putting the last scoop of the ice cream onto her bowl that she thought, 'Aren't these a bit too plain?'

It was just plain chocolate ice cream! There wasn't anything technically wrong with it, but for Takao, something like a Valentine's chocolate had to be a bit more… special. She turned to where Hiroshi was, and seeing that he was working on getting their leftovers into a container, she dashed to where she had left Dunkerque's dessert cookbook.

Flipping through the book, she saw that Dunkerque did prefer to put various toppings on the ice cream she usually served. For chocolate ice cream, her consensus was clear – more chocolate.

Takao cursed to herself. If only she had a little bit more time, she could make the chocolate herself… But she didn't. The chocolate that Dunkerque had stored in the pantry would have to do…

Holding back on cringing, Takao chopped up some chocolate bars and added them on top of the ice cream. The pieces began to sink into the dessert, as it had already been some minutes since it had been plated. Takao took this as her sign that time was up – she had to serve them now.

She returned to find a patiently waiting Hiroshi, alongside a clean table, and a bag full of leftovers on top of the cart they had used earlier for serving.

"Happy Valentine's, Hiro~" Takao tilted her head with a smile as she placed the ice cream bowl in the center of the table and handed him a spoon.

He didn't even need to look at the ice cream in front of him for a second to realize what it was.

He said with a lighthearted chuckle as Takao sat down, "This is your homemade, isn't it?"

"Eh?" She gasped. "How did you know?"

He scooped up a chunk into his spoon and held it up, "I don't think you would give me anything made from chocolate today unless you made it yourself."

Unless she made it herself… Takao flinched as she repeated that phrase in her head. She had failed to meet her beloved's expectations.

"What's wrong, Takao-chan?"

"W-Well…" She fiddled with her fingers as her mind raced to figure out what to say next.

Hiroshi had been honest to her earlier, so she thought that it was only fair for her to be honest back. And she knew deep in her heart that he wouldn't really mind, anyways…

Her lips shivered as the words exited her mouth, "Actually, Hiro… The chocolate pieces in there weren't made by me… I only made the ice cream… And even then, it was a rushed job… I was so disappointed about our trip that I put no thought to even making chocolates until earlier, when I was chopping vegetables… I have failed you, Admiral…"

"Oh, Takao-chan… I don't care that it wasn't entirely made from scratch," Hiroshi understandingly shook his head while reaching over to Takao's hand across the table. Grasping her hand firmly within his, he continued, "You know, that's what I love so much about you – even when your back is against the wall, you're always doing your best. As long as you try your best, I will gladly eat and enjoy anything you prepare."

Takao placed her free hand over Hiroshi's, staring deeply into his unwavering eyes, "Thank you for always reassuring and believing in me, Hiro… I truly am undeserving of you…"

"Please stop talking like that," his grip tightened, "If you truly believe the words that just came out of your mouth, then you should know what I'm going to say next…"

"I-," she opened her mouth to refute, but stopped herself, knowing that she didn't really believe in the words that would have followed.

"I love you, Hiro."

He let go of Takao's hand and nodded his full approval – she had made the correct response.

"And I love you too, Takao-chan."

Hiroshi reached to pick up the spoon he had left in the bowl earlier to suggest that they start on their dessert before it started melting. However, the ice cream was already way ahead of that, and was by now split halfway between liquid and solid.

He frowned slightly as he pulled the spoon from the ice cream, inspecting the brown mixture drip slowly down and back into the bowl below.

Takao stood up and inspected the bowl herself, alarmed at how it had melted that far already. Had they really been distracted for that long?

She lifted the bowl and said shakily, "I'm going to put this back in the freezer…"

Hiroshi motioned for her to put it back down, "I don't really mind it, Takao-chan. We should really be heading out soon, anyways."

Takao put the bowl down and pondered – what even was the time right now, anyways? She pulled up her sleeve to peek at her wristwatch…

It was already 10:00!

They still had work tomorrow!

She immediately sat back down and picked up her own spoon, "You try it first, Hiro."

Hiroshi obliged, digging out a piece from a section of the ice cream that had not melted too much yet. Takao anxiously watched as he put the spoon to his mouth. However, she found out that she had nothing to worry about when he began contently nodding as he began to chew on what was probably a chunk of chocolate.

"How is it?" Takao asked after he had swallowed, wanting to hear his opinion straight from his mouth. She was immediately hit with a flashback of the events that had transpired during dinner, and soon added, "And I hope for your sake, you aren't thinking about teasing me this time. Maybe you'd like to spar with Atago as well?"

At the sound of Atago's name, Hiroshi's eyes bulged, and he held back on choking on the ice cream in his throat. Sparring with Takao was a bad enough punishment for him, but Atago? She was on a completely different level than Takao!

"I assure you I had no such thoughts," he said between coughs, "It was good! Really good!"

He took a gulp of water before continuing, "Are you sure you're really a heavy cruiser, Takao-chan?"

"Huh?"

Takao was stunned for words. Where did that question come from? Of course she was a heavy cruiser! It was in her name! It was in her rigging! It was in her cube! Takao was the quintessential heavy cruiser!

"Are you sure you're not actually one of those ice cream ships?" Hiroshi had to hold back his laughter as he revealed his punchline.

Takao's face reacquainted itself with her hands as Hiroshi burst into full on laughter.

"That…" Takao tried to start, but Hiroshi's giggling was catching onto her. She unveiled her face again and said with a bemused shake of her head as she too began to grin, "Actually… I'll forgive you for that one – that was actually kind of clever."

"Thanks, Takao-chan~" Hiroshi said as his laughter died down. "I'm glad you liked that one."

"Mhm," Takao nodded as she took up a piece into her spoon. She was quite curious about what it tasted like – she had not once considered taste testing while she was making it. She had her concerned before about whether it would be palatable or not, but if Hiroshi liked it, it was likely good.

The concentrated chocolate hit her tongue like a torpedo. If she were a true dog, she might have died on the spot. Even if it was a little runny, the sweetness of the ice cream and the contrast of the dark chocolate was magnificent.

"I've surprised even myself with this," Takao said her thoughts aloud. "Maybe I should have Dunkerque make a copy of her cookbooks for us… Maybe she could even collaborate with Akashi and sell them herself…"

"You hang out with Akashi and Ooyodo too much," Hiroshi chuckled as he went for another spoonful.

"They're your friends as much as they are mine, Hiro!"

Purposefully ignoring what Takao had said, he replied, "What you should be doing now instead of thinking about Dunkerque's cookbooks is eating that ice cream before it's all gone."

Takao looked down at the bowl – Hiroshi had already gotten through a quarter of what was originally there!

****

"Well," Hiroshi began as Takao finished the last of the ice cream, "How did you feel about today, Takao-chan? I think it would be an understatement to say that we were both feeling down when we woke up, but what about now? We had a fun time here on-base, right?"

"I don't really mind anymore," Takao answered instantly with a warm smile, "Despite the…unusual circumstances, it really reminded me about how strong of a community we have here. It just goes to show what an excellent leader you are, Admiral Nakajima~"

"Oh please," Hiroshi waved it off, a slight blush appearing on his face, "I'm just doing my job." He shifted the focus back to her, "Did you have fun though?"

She took her time to observe Hiroshi's flustered face for a second before responding, "Of course I did. Thinking about it rationally now, there is nothing that can topple the joy of spending time with family and friends, not even travelling – especially when we are both together. What about you, Hiro?"

Family was the word that stuck most to Hiroshi. He considered her alongside his closest friends on the base to be his family, but he had not seen two especially important members of that family today…

"Sorry to sidetrack, but speaking of family, have you seen Atago and Maya today?"

"I was just thinking about them, too," Takao admitted. "I was trying to text Atago earlier, but she never responded."

"And I don't recall seeing Maya when Choukai was doing her act for us earlier," Hiroshi added on.

Takao sighed, "Well, I guess we can find out tomorrow from Ooyodo. Maybe they were busy with something else…"

"I guess so," he shrugged. "But it is weird that we never saw Atago… She would have had a ball with all the shenanigans…"

"Don't even get me started, Hiro…" Takao shook her head as she imagined the sort of French-themed antics Atago would have committed had she been around today.

Seeing that neither of them knew about the whereabouts of her sisters, and nothing else could be said about them, Takao led Hiroshi back on-topic, "Did you have fun today, Hiro?"

"Well, I found the French act rather uncanny, too," Hiroshi concurred with what Takao had stated earlier. "And while I was rather disappointed this morning, the second Richelieu and her group came in, I knew that today would be memorable. I'm glad that you were able to get over it, Takao-chan. You were the most affected between the two of us, and I'm happy that I was able to see your smile so many times today."

"Like this?" Takao lifted her lips with her index fingers into a cutesy smile, striking Hiroshi directly in the heart.

He clutched his chest as he tried to embed that smile into his memory forever, "You are way too cute, Takao-chan…"

Chapter Text

After conducting their morning inspection of the base, Hiroshi and Takao began to make their way directly to the office. However, on the way, they came across two people who had been on their minds since the previous night.

"Atago! Maya!" Takao cried, so surprised that she dropped her clipboard.

"Bonjour, Takao-chan and Hiroshi-kun~" Atago said with a groggy inflection to her usual chipper tone.

Maya let out a yawn before quietly adding, "Bonjour," herself.

The couple groaned. Not this again. It was a cool one-time thing, but frankly, it had gotten annoying. Were they going to get the French treatment today, too?

Atago burst into laughter, or at least, what looked like it. Her tone was deeper and softer, and her movements stiff. Maya, on the other hand, let out a single chuckle.

"My apologies," Maya explained as Atago began to calm down, "Atago-oneesama insisted that we do the whole French thing to you two since we missed our chance to yesterday."

"It's fine," Hiroshi assured her.

"Where were you two yesterday?" Takao asked.

Having recovered from her laughter, Atago proudly exclaimed to the best of her ability, "Onee-chan and Maya-chan went hunting yesterday!"

"What?!"

Hunting…? Both Takao and Hiroshi knew that neither Atago nor Maya had any upcoming sorties. Then that meant that the Siren raiding force that Admiral Bellerose told them about the other day…

"You sortied?!" Takao shrieked.

Hiroshi picked up where Takao left off, "And Ooyodo didn't tell us?!"

"Well, we didn't want to disturb you two with work," Atago said after wiping her eyes.

Maya blinked hard before adding, "You didn't seem to be in a good mood for these past few days."

"It was no big deal, anyways," Atago slowly and carefully waved it off, "We had to chase that raiding fleet down all day, but when we finally caught them, I handled those Sirens quicker than you can say 'Onee-chan'!"

"When did you return to port?" Takao asked concernedly. "You two need to get to bed…"

"You don't say, Takao-oneesama…" Maya rolled her eyes.

Atago playfully shoved Maya for her snarky remark. Normally, Maya would have just shoved back, but her sleep-deprived balance left much to be desired… She would have fallen over were it not for Takao's quick and precise reflexes – something that both Atago and Maya seemed to lack at that moment.

"Sorry, Takao-oneesama…"

"It's okay, Maya, I know you didn't mean it," Takao said understandingly.

Atago cleared her throat, "To answer what you asked earlier, Takao-chan, we got back about an hour ago. We just finished our report to Ooyodo. She'll fill you in on what happened."

"Go get some rest…" Hiroshi shooed them away softly. "I'll talk to you two and everyone else involved later."

"Yes, Admiral," they slowly saluted before going on their way.

"It's going to be a fun day today, isn't it?" Takao murmured as she and Hiroshi began walking again.

"Just another day at the office."