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Moments of downtime were hard to come across in Tokyo, Flynn grumbled in his thoughts. There was no sun to dictate the working hours, and the city was in constant motion. It was lucky for the samurai that, in catching a moment of peace, they could return home for a day or two, and not be missed for more than an hour. Mikado wasn't nearly as troubled, though it was difficult to process that the hours they spent in Tokyo were weeks in Mikado.
The fresh air of the land above was always a relief, Tokyo's air was always too dense and difficult to breathe, though he was starting to get used to it. He hoped one day, the city would live under the sun again.
A little beep from his gauntlet grabbed Flynn's attention, and he reached over to investigate.
- Are you awake? Meet me by the lake.
A message from Issachar, Flynn stretched in bed. He'd slept in long enough, though after days of battling demons and running around doing errands, a few more hours would be welcome. He took his time getting dressed, a little less than usual as there was no need to bring weapons with him, really.
Flynn bought a few pastries on his way out of town, enough to share when he got to the lake, maybe even enough to feed the leftovers to the waterfowl that often swam there. He nibbled on a piece as he walked, taking in the sounds of birds, insects, and grass that swayed in the wind, little things he never noticed he missed when he was away.
Issachar was sitting by the tree they always met at, mostly in uniform, but he'd brought the shawl he'd made years ago, arms crossed under it as he dozed in the shade. Had he been waiting a while? Quietly, Flynn sat beside him and began to unwrap the bread. "Issachar," he nudged his sleeping friend gently, "I brought you your favorite."
"Mmph?" Issachar made a sleepy noise, yawning. "My wha? Oh." He blinked at Flynn, then at the slice of bread he was being offered, the buttery kind he'd often get whenever they went to the bakery together. He took it happily, "Thank you." Flynn smiled at him, and they sat quietly to eat.
"How's your arm?" Flynn asked, and Issachar shrugged, lifting up his arm and pulling back the sleeve.
"Better than yesterday, it closed up with a little help last night."
"That's good," Flynn sighed, holding Issachar's arm to place a little kiss next to the closed wound. Issachar sheepishly went back to nibbling his bread. Affection was nothing new between them, they were practically inseparable ever since they were kids. Little kisses on a scrape, hugs every time they saw each other or parted ways, holding hands. It was just normal, nothing to bother even batting an eye at. Normal, and daunting.
They'd been dating for a while now, a short time after becoming samurai, though really nothing changed, except for how they got a little bolder with their affections. Just a little. The changes were welcome, but slow, it was still weird being 'boyfriends' and all. Weird that their relationship was changing, even though it wasn't. Maybe it was the label that confused him, Flynn wondered to himself. They hadn't had a word for it before, after all. It had always just been natural, thoughtless. Issachar shifted a little, rested his head against his shoulder and wordlessly offered a bite of the pastry he'd been munching, and Flynn returned the gesture with his own.
It was nice, sitting in comfortable silence again like they'd often done before all of this, away from the noise and the stress. Issachar leaned over him to place the remainder of the pastry on the napkin Flynn had brought them with, the sugar proving a little to cloying for his tastes this time, and then turned to lay his weight on him, wrapping his arms around Flynn's waist and resting his chin on his chest.
"Hoy." He smiled.
"Hoy." Flynn responded with a mouthful of half-chewed pastry, and Issachar laughed, buried his face in Flynn's chest, wondered when they'd get another moment like this.
"We'll have to eventually, but I don't want to move from here." He admitted, and Flynn hummed in agreement as he ate the last piece of his bread. "Let's stay here until sunset, if that's alright?"
"As long as we get back before curfew, I don't want to have to sneak back in again." Flynn chuckled at the memory of falling asleep together at the lake, only to wake up as the sun was slipping under the horizon. There was a stricter curfew now with Naraku open, and sneaking back in was a trail in itself. Issachar nodded in agreement, grumbling something about how it'd been Flynn's fault for oversleeping again, earning nothing but an indignant puff. "You overslept too, you know." He felt the other smile against him.
"I was only teasing," he said, and Flynn rolled his eyes.
"I know, so was I."
After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Flynn sank further against the tree trunk, cupped Issachar's face with his hands and brought him just close enough to kiss his forehead, stroking the sides of his face with his thumbs idly until Issachar moved forward to kiss him on the lips. It was a nice kiss, gentle and slow, there was never a need to rush. They could take their time with their affections, because it was them, because it felt right, as easy as breathing.