Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Jouno folds his arms against the cold.

“Come on the group vacation. It’ll be fun, they said. Ugh,” he says grumpily.

Teruko glares at him.

“Would you stop? You’re bringing down the mood.”

“The mood was brought down when we got here, and everything was crappy. There are holes in the walls, all of the windows are broken and taped up, and there are bugs in the walls. I can hear them. This cabin is terrible.”

“Well, sure it was a little unexpected for our first vacation in three years, but it’s not that bad. We can make it work.”

“I didn’t even want to come in the first place. My idea of fun is not hanging out in a cabin in the mountains with the only people around being a town a mile away.”

“Not exactly my idea of fun either,” Tachihara says,” but we can make it work. Tecchou’s enjoying himself. He is easy to entertain though, he’s just watching the bugs on the floor over there.”

“Ugh, I hate bugs,” Teruko says, frowning at the floor where the bugs are crawling around.

Jouno sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Good to know. Now you’re gonna wake me up at some ridiculous hour to make me get rid of bugs, aren’t you?”

“Obviously. Don’t be silly. I’m not gonna get rid of any bugs,” Teruko says, booping Jouno’s nose playfully.

“I can get rid of them,” Tachihara offers. “So Jouno doesn’t have to.”

Tecchou starts stomping on the bugs.

“Well that fixes the problem for now. When I find some later though, I’m not waking you up. You’re the baby, and Jouno practically signed up for that job.”

“I did not.”

“Did too.”

“I’m not a baby,” Tachihara pouts.

Tecchou taps Jouno’s shoulder.

“How old do you have to be to stop being a baby?”

“Two years, then you’re a toddler.”

“Then how is Tachihara a baby? He’s like nineteen, right?”

“He’s not a literal baby. He’s just the baby of the group. She’s gonna call him that until one of them dies.”

Teruko nods.

“Yup, you’re gonna be the baby of the group forever.”

“Condolences,” Jouno says with a dead inside expression on his face.

“Eh, I’m okay with it. She could have found something worse to call me,” Tachihara replies.

Tecchou shrugs,” Like if she decided to call you a shrimp.”

“Why would she call him a shrimp? She’s significantly smaller than him,” Jouno replies.

“I just had shrimp on my mind,” Tecchou answers,” I’m hungry. Anyone else hungry?”

“I’ll go start making ramen cups, cause there’s no stove here,” Jouno says loudly as if Teruko can’t hear him complaining.

“Whatever,” she says, flipping him off even though she knows he can’t see it.

Jouno walks into the adjoining room to start a ramen cup in the microwave.

“Well, boys, what do you guys wanna do while we’re here?” Teruko asks, bouncing up and down.

“Sleep,” Tachihara answers,” That’s what I want to do. I don’t get nearly enough of it.”

“Sleeping is boring,” Tecchou says,” I want to go climb something really tall and maybe jump off. Do we have anything to keep us from hurting ourselves if we fall from a large height?”

“Sleeping is boring. Also, we don’t have anything to keep us from hurting ourselves, but with our body modifications, we could definitely jump out of the trees outside. We probably wouldn’t even hurt ourselves,” she says, her eyes lighting up.

“Jouno! Tecchou and Teruko are gonna jump out of tall trees!” Tachihara shouts,” How do I stop them?”

Jouno walks back in, holding two ramen cups. One of them is cooked and it looks like he was preparing the other one.

“I lied. We do have something to stop us from getting hurt if we decide to jump off of something tall. Jouno’s here, which means we don’t get to do anything fun,” Teruko says, pouting already.

“What the heck? You guys are not jumping out of the trees outside. They’re at least forty feet tall. You could break your neck.”

“See?”

“Well, we could always talk about our place in the universe,” Tecchou says.

“What brought that up?” Tachihara asks.

Tecchou shrugs,” It was on my mind.”

“Well, that is something safe that we can do,” Tachihara replies.

“We’re not doing that either. I am not dealing with an identity crisis, or any other kind of mental problems you’re going to give yourself by talking about your place in the universe. Why don’t you guys talk about Teruko’s newest conspiracy theory?”

“Yay!” Teruko yells, clapping her hands.

“I don’t have identity crises,” Tecchou says, pouting.

“What’s your newest conspiracy theory?” Tachihara asks.

“Jouno and I were watching Spongebob Squarepants, and I realized that Spongebob is a serial killer,” she says, waving her arms to emphasize her point.

“He is not,” Tachihara replies.

“He is?” Tecchou asks,” How did you figure that out?”

“Yeah, discuss that,” Jouno says, walking back into the kitchen with the cups of noodles.

Teruko goes on for about ten minutes while Jouno makes noodles. He comes in, holding the noodles, offering each one of them one.

“Teruko, no more talking about Spongebob. It’s been long enough that you should be done. We only watched three episodes.”

Teruko pouts as she takes her noodle cup.

“This has been something I didn’t know that I was in for, but definitely interesting,” Tachihara says.

He takes his cup of noodles from Jouno,” Thank you.”

“I need to know more,” Tecchou says as he takes his noodles,” Spongebob should be brought to justice.”

“No problem, and Tecchou, don’t encourage her. I can’t believe the only way I can get you guys not to jump out of trees without babysitting you is Spongebob conspiracies.”

Teruko licks one of the noodles before hissing loudly.

“What’s wrong with your noodles, ma’am?” Tachihara asks.

“It burned me.”

“Oof, that sucks.”

He starts blowing on his noodles. Tecchou eats his, seemingly without issue. Jouno sits with his legs crossed at the knee and his head back, not eating. It takes Teruko a second to notice, but she frowns.

“Everything ok?”

“Yeah, I’m just listening to the storm outside. I’m surprised that there are no leaks from the roof. It sounds like the storm is getting bad out there.”

“Knock on wood,” Tachihara says,” We do not need this place to start leaking.”

Tecchou knocks on the table, then continues eating.

“That’s ridiculous, but I agree that we don’t need a leak.”

There’s a knock on the door, making Teruko jump.

“Who would be out in this weather?” she asks, standing up.

She makes her way over to the door. When she opens it, they can all see a disheveled woman. Except for Jouno, who can’t see.

“Are you ok, ma’am?” Teruko asks, stepping out of the way so the woman can walk in.

“You have to help. Our town is being flooded, and we need help evacuating.”

Jouno sighs.

“Well, so much for our ‘vacation’.”

Teruko shushes him, but he doesn’t seem to mind. They all head to the village, immediately splitting up to help the most people. Jouno notices it first, an odd noise. It sounds like rocks falling.

“Shit!” he exclaims, racing to go find his teammates before the rock slide can reach them.

He hears Tecchou nearby so he yells for him to get out of town and tell the others if he sees them on his way out.

“Why?” Tecchou asks.

“Can’t explain. Do it.”

He keeps running as fast as his legs will take him. The next person he comes across is Teruko, and the noise is loud enough for all of them to hear. She’s holding two small children, one in each arm.

“Take those children and get out of here. As far away as you can. I’m gonna find Tachihara, and we’re gonna meet up with you.”

“Ok, quickly,” she says, already understanding what’s happening.

She races away from the town and the quickly approaching rocks. Jouno frantically searches for Tachihara. By the time he finds him, it’s too late. The rocks are already bounding down around them and Tachihara is still a few feet away from him. There’s no way that either of them are going to get away from the rock slide. Something hits Jouno in the head, and he hits the ground.

All he can feel is pain for the first few seconds that he’s awake. Then he can hear a few other things. Someone is faintly breathing a few feet away from him, but their heartbeat is slow. He can also smell blood everywhere. It even covers the person’s smell for the most part. However, it’s so familiar to him that he can still tell who it is.

“Tachihara?” he asks quietly.

His voice cracks from disuse. Thinking is becoming harder.

“Am I bleeding?” he asks, trying to move his arm to check his body.

His arm won’t move though. Neither of them will.

“Tachihara, can you hear me?” he asks louder now.

He tries to move towards Tachihara, but his body won’t respond. He can feel the fact that one of his arms is pinned and so are his legs, but the other arm won’t respond either.

“Tachihara?”

Tachihara still doesn’t respond, still as a corpse. Jouno tries to move again, but it just sends pain flashing through him. He shudders, having to force himself not to throw up. At that point all he can do is wait. He can hear Tachihara’s heartbeat slowing down. At some point he passes out, the pain overwhelming him. It’s oddly quiet when he wakes up. He strains to hear Tachihara’s heartbeat. He almost panics before he hears the quiet beat a few feet away from him. That relief only lasts for a minute since he can pinpoint the exact second that his heartbeat fades away completely. He stays shock still for a few seconds before trying to get over to him again. Some of the rocks start shifting as he starts crying.

I can’t move. I can’t help him. I can’t… I have to bring him back. I… I…

He keeps trying to force himself out from under the rock, or even just a little closer to Tachihara. The rocks start to shift, causing him to stop. Something hits the side of his head, knocking the other side into the ground. His awareness immediately fades. There’s an odd beeping in the back of his mind when he wakes up again. It’s muted to the point where he can barely hear it. Someone’s crying nearby.

“What? Where am I?” he mumbles.

He can hear the crying stop, but that doesn’t help anything. He can’t hear anyone’s heartbeat, so who’s in the room with him?

“Are you awake?” Teruko’s voice asks timidly.

“Ma’am?”

“Hey.”

“Where’re the other two?” he asks, already getting a little out of breath. “Also, what’s wrong with me?”

“Tecchou is in the room next to you. He got hurt while we were out there.”

“How bad?”

“His leg was injured to the point that he won’t be able to walk on it again. Tachihara didn’t make it. I’m so sorry that you had to be in there with his…”

She starts crying again.

“Teruko, please stop. I…”

“I’m sorry. What was your other question?”

“What’s wrong with me?”

“Oh, I’m so sorry. The landslide shifted, and a rock fell on your head. You hit another one underneath you.”

She sniffles, putting one of her hands on the back of his.

“Most of your hearing is gone. The damage was so bad that they don’t think you’ll be able to hear even half as well as most people can.”

“Oh.”

“Also, your leg was crushed, and they had to amputate it.”

She starts crying again, harder now.

“I can’t believe it. You’re both going to have to retire and Tachihara’s gone. I can’t do this. I can’t be the only one who got out of this ok.”

Ah, so this is the guilt that comes along with surviving something like this. I wonder if I’ll feel that bad once I’m not high, and it sinks in that Tachihara is dead. That I wasn’t fast enough to save him, or Tecchou.

He sighs, taking her hand in his. There isn’t much else that he can do right now, but being there will have to be enough. Especially if she decides to keep going with her military career since that’ll leave her alone. The only Hunting Dog left standing. He doesn’t even realize that the government won’t leave her any choice, just like they’ve always had all had of their choices stripped away. 

Chapter Text

Tecchou stumbles as he leans a little too far while reaching for his crutches. He sniffles as he puts them under his arms. However, it’s not because of his own stumble, but because Jouno didn’t even notice. He’s in his wheelchair a few feet away, but is almost completely unaware of the world around him. He almost holds the tears back, but gives up once he realizes that no one will hear him anyway. So, he cries, and then he cries some more. Jouno perks up after a few minutes, pulling away from his book.

“What’s that noise? Are you ok, Tecchou?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he says, his voice still unsteady though.

“You don’t sound fine. Did you fall again?”

“No, I didn’t fall. Did you hear anything?” he asks, speaking loudly, sounding calm now.

Jouno visibly stiffens, holding himself defensively now.

“No, should I have?”

“No, sorry.”

He can feel how tense the atmosphere has already gotten, so he just sighs.

“I’m going to the store. Do you need anything different from normal?”

“No thank you. Do you need me to do anything around the house while you’re gone?”

Tecchou bites his lip, knowing that he’s just looking for something to do. Something to keep himself busy, but there really isn’t much that he can do anymore.

“I need some help organizing the bookshelves in the hallway. You can organize all of the ones that are in Braille.”

“Ok, I’ll do that. Don’t stay out too long though.”

“I won’t.”

He grabs his wallet and phone, tucking them into his pocket before walking out of the house. Getting to the grocery store down the street is much harder than it used to be, but he ignores how long it takes him, and how much his leg aches by the time he gets there. It’s quiet, but the store has always been quiet. That’s not what’s changed. It’s him, he never used to come here alone. Anytime they were allowed off base, he would take Teruko or Tachihara. They never see Teruko anymore, and they’re never going to see Tachihara again. He sniffles as he attempts to navigate his crutches and the shopping cart. No matter how hard he tries to push Tachihara’s smiling face out of his mind, the only image that will replace it is Teruko’s devastated face. The face she made the last time he saw her almost three months ago. He couldn’t wipe her tears away as they left base while she had to stay behind. Had to train a new team who had no idea what they were getting themselves into. Who had no idea how much being in The Hunting Dogs would screw them over. Even now, he and Jouno have to take their fragile bodies to get their surgeries. Teruko can’t leave either, having to work until she dies, or physically can’t. Honestly, he’s not sure she can mentally do it much longer anyway.

The can he’s holding drops to the floor as another image flashes through his mind, one of her crying alone after the commander betrayed them, and tried to kill Jouno and Tachihara. He blinks, his mind suddenly clearing. So, he goes on about his shopping. It’s only as he’s checking out that he realizes that he’s been in the store for almost three hours. He’s still not in any rush to get home, unable to move any faster than he did on his way there. Still, there’s a new sense of purpose behind his footsteps. He already knows what he’s going to find when he gets home, praying he’s wrong. He opens the door, nudging it shut with his shoulder. He drops the groceries on the floor before walking slowly towards the bathroom. He holds his breath as he opens the door. There’s drops of blood on the floor and counter. It looks like someone tried to clean it, but didn’t do a very good job.

Jouno’s voice calls from the kitchen,” Tecchou are you back? I found the groceries.”

Tecchou jogs back to the kitchen, eyes immediately drifting to Jouno’s arms. They’re wrapped in bandages, and he feels another sob make its way out of his throat. He remembers the first time he found Jouno in the bathroom. It was the first time he’d left Jouno alone in the house since everything happened. When he came back, Jouno was in the bathroom, covered in blood. Slices littered his arm, blood on the floor, counter, and tub. The first aid kit was sitting in front of him on the counter with blood on it too. He was just sitting there while he bled. This happened every single time that he left Jouno for more than an hour to an hour and a half. If he gives him tasks, it’s a little longer. He’s never attempted to take his own life, always patched himself up if Tecchou didn’t get there fast enough to do it. However, Tecchou feels the anxiety grip him every time he sees the blood. However hard he tries, he hasn’t been able to get him to stop, and can only hope that he never escalates any further.

“I’ll put the groceries away. Why don’t you start on dinner?”

“Ok.”

Neither of them mention it, instead eating together before Tecchou climbs into bed. He can hear Jouno in the living room with a show playing on the TV. It’s loud, but he’s never said anything. The last thing he wants to do is say anything. His dreams are vivid as usual.

“Tachihara, Jouno, what are you guys doing?” Teruko asks from her perch on Tecchou’s shoulders.

Jouno folds his arms.

“Tachihara is reorganizing the cabinets. It’s almost time for dinner though.”

“Is that why he’s on the floor with his top half in the cabinet?” Tecchou asks, cocking his head.

“I would assume. Anyway, are you all ready for training tomorrow? The commander said that he’s going to be late, so we should start without him. Otherwise, everything seems to be going according to our plan.”

Teruko grins, kicking her feet excitedly.

“Yay! Training!”

She accidentally kicks Tecchou in the face, causing him to drop her. Jouno catches her around the waist before depositing her safely on the ground.

“Woah, that was exhilarating,” she announces, hopping up and down.

“You need to be more careful,” Jouno advises as he turns back towards the stove.

However, it’s barely four seconds later when he curses, jogging over to the sink.

“What happened?” Tachihara asks, trying to extract himself from the cabinet.

“I burned myself by touching the pot.”

“How did you do that? Can’t you smell the heat or something?” Tecchou asks.

Everything gets really quiet. Jouno stands there for a full minute with his hand under the water and a dumbfounded look on his face.

“What did you just say to me?”

Teruko giggles, covering her mouth. Ringing fills the air, startling Tecchou. This didn’t happen, he thinks, annoyed that his dream is straying from his memory.

He sits up, realizing that the doorbell is ringing. He climbs out of bed groggily, forgetting about his leg completely. It’s only a second before he hits the floor with the wind knocked out of his sails. He grunts as he pulls himself to his feet, already reaching for his crutches. Jouno is snoring softly on the couch, completely unbothered by the doorbell. Tecchou bites his lip, suppressing tears again. He quickly makes his way to the door only to find a little girl standing there.

“Hello, sir, would you like to buy some cookies?”

“Oh, no thank you. Have a nice day.”

He doesn’t give her a chance to try to convince him, immediately shutting the door instead.

“It’s been too long since I lived off base. I thought one of my bosses was at the door,” he whispers, shaking his head.

After that, he heads into the kitchen to make breakfast. Once the eggs are made the way Jouno likes them, he heads into the living room. He puts a hand on Jouno’s shoulder, slightly shaking him.

“Ugghn,” Jouno groans, pulling away.

Tecchou keeps a hand on his shoulder to make sure that he doesn’t fall, or go back to sleep.

“Stop touching me, Tecchou.”

“Alright, but you have to let me see your arms.”

“Do whatever you want.”

He nods, grabbing the first aid kit from under the table. He begins unwrapping Jouno’s arms, moving slowly and carefully. The skin underneath isn’t as much of a mess as it usually is. It’s more precise and clean than it usually is although it looks like he tried to skin his own arm. Clean squares of skin are completely gone, some of them merging together to make a gruesome patchwork of skin and red.

“Jouno, what did you do?” He knows that his voice is shaking, and he sounds horrified.

“I don’t know. I don’t remember.”

“You have to get help.”

“I know, but I can’t find it in myself to care.”

“I’m going to find a way to fix this. I promise. Just please… I don’t know. Just don’t leave me.”

“I’m not going anywhere. Not yet.”

Tecchou blinks the tears out of his eyes as he starts cleaning Jouno’s wounds. They’re both quiet throughout it. All Tecchou can think about is therapists in the area, and how he can turn this situation around.

Maybe I should take him back to his doctor. There has to be a reason that he can’t even remember doing this. He shouldn’t have even been able to do this. I wonder if Teruko is suffering like this. Either way, she’s suffering alone. I can’t save them. I couldn’t save Tachihara, and I can’t save either of them. I should have just left that stupid village like Jouno told me to. I shouldn’t have tried to figure out what was going on, or tried to find the others. I’m so stupid.     

Chapter Text

The annoying buzz of Teruko’s alarm wakes her up. Usually she’d be up before it even goes off, but recently she’s been trapped in her own mind until the buzzing drums itself into her skull. She sits up, slapping her phone. It only manages to turn off the alarm half the time when she does that, but, good for her, today is one of her luckier days. The only thing getting her dressed and ready in the morning is the routine that she’s banged into her own skull over many years. Despite the loneliness scratching at her mind, and the anxiety clawing at her stomach, the routine gets her through the first parts of her mornings. Daiki, Haruki, and Emi are all sitting around the table, eating breakfast together. They’re joking and laughing.

“Morning Commander,” Emi says, bowing.

“Sure.”

Ruki and Daiki share a look, knowing that their day just got worse cause of her mood.

I shouldn’t let my mood affect them so much. I really don’t care though. All I have to do is get through three more lousy days of this before I can have my day off to go see Tachihara, Tecchou, and Jouno.

She sighs, grabbing her coffee cup. Her usually pulled up hair falls into her face as she pours herself coffee. Doing the work to keep up with it gets more and more daunting every single day.

I may just have to do something about that…

She finishes her coffee before turning to them.

“Hurry up and head outside. What are you waiting for? Do laps around the building until I get out there.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Daiki and Ruki say, standing up immediately.

Teruko shakes her head.

“No mind of your own,” she mumbles, her eyes dark.

Emi runs after them as Teruko glares at her. After they’re gone, she heads back to her room. She takes a quick walk to the bathroom with her phone in hand. Her chat with Tecchou is open. Jouno can’t talk on the phone anymore, and he can’t even use Siri to text since he can’t hear well enough for that. She contemplates texting for a minute before setting her phone down instead. She pulls her hair up before pulling the rubber band further down her hair. She grabs a pair of clippers out of the third drawer that she used to use to trim Tecchou and Jouno’s hair. With no hesitation, she cuts the lower part of the ponytail off, not leaving much hair left. She straightens it, evening out of the bottom with her clippers, and running a brush through it. She feels the corner of her mouth turn up with how much her hair reminds her of Jouno’s now.

I wonder if he kept his hair the same now that he can’t even get into the shower to wash it. I need to get out there. They’re probably waiting on me.

They’re jogging around the building when she gets out there. They all stare at her in shock when they see what she did with her alone time inside.

“What are you idiots staring at? Get back to it, and move faster. Why are you jogging? You’re moving so slow. I have friends that move faster than you when they’re casually heading to a meeting! Move faster!”

Emi shakes herself out of her stupor before hitting both boy’s arms. They all start running, moving much faster than their measly jogging. Teruko hums her approval as she watches them. Usually she’d join and run alongside them, but a lot of her usuals have changed recently. Now she’s mentally just too tired to run with anyone other than her boys. She lets them run for another two laps around the building before whistling to get their attention.

“Come here. I have one task for you today. Then you can do whatever you want.”

“Are you sure, Commander? We’re supposed to be on par with the last group in just a few months,” Emi asks.

Daiki and Ruki both cringe. Teruko starts giggling, which quickly turns into laughter. She laughs until she’s wheezing. All of them are staring at her like she lost her mind.

“Oh you’re crazy if you really think that’s going to happen. Like, completely off your rocker. They were elites, and they had really awesome control over their abilities. Even though not all of them had flashy, or super helpful abilities, they managed to become the best. You guys don’t have the talent, or the work ethic to help you with that. The only reason this team is even eligible to have the same name as that team is because of the enhancements that the government gave you. Also, me, but that’s not relevant to you. So, you’re going to do what I tell you to, and hope that our superiors aren’t as disappointed in you as I am.”

It’s quiet. Emi is staring at her while Daiki and Ruki are staring at their shoes.

“Oh my word, I just realized that you guys can’t even get your uniforms on right. Never mind, you have two tasks. Emi, fix your belt, it’s crooked. Daiki, your top isn’t situated with your belt correctly. Also, Ruki, your pants aren’t even tucked into your boot properly. It’s supposed to floof out. Good grief, you want to be as good as the last team, and the blind one from said team could put his uniform on better than you. Anyway, after you’re done fixing your uniforms, you’re going to head downtown to a place called Nature Rescue. Just punch it into a GPS. You’re going to do anything that they ask, and tell them that I’m sorry I couldn’t come. You’re dismissed.”

She walks towards the gate without waiting for them to respond. She knows that she’s not allowed to leave base until this weekend, but she knows how to get out without anyone seeing her. No place is too secure to keep her in or out. So, she turns her phone off, and sneaks off base.

“We’re going to see Tachihara first,” she says as she skips down the street.

She’s casual about it, much more casual than the other people dotted around the cemetery who are grieving their loved ones. She plops down in front of the headstone with Tachihara’s name on it. It’s quiet, and Teruko does nothing to break that silence. She doesn’t make any noise the whole half hour that she sits there, other than silently crying. However, that doesn’t last long either. She quickly pulls herself together, rubbing her eyes after only a few minutes of crying at the end of her time there.

“I’m sorry that I can’t stay long, Tachi. I need to go see the others. You know I wish that we could all be together, but that’s not going to happen. It’s sad, but not as sad as this new group I have to train. I’ll tell you all about it next time, I promise. Maybe this weekend.”

She turns and walks away after blowing a kiss behind her. She heads straight to the house that Jouno and Tecchou are renting. She can see a car in the driveway, even though neither of them own a car. That doesn’t stop her as she knocks loudly on the door. It’s a minute before someone answers the door, but it’s Tecchou’s face that appears in the doorway.

“Teruko?” he asks, sounding confused.

“Yeah, can I come in?”

“Sure. The nurse is here right now, but she’s finishing up with Jouno. His sensory issues are getting better, so he’s able to keep his hearing aids in for a little while before they start really bothering him.”

“That’s amazing,” Teruko says, folding her arms tightly across her chest.

She doesn’t touch him, knowing that she’s too likely to knock him off balance. He leads her inside to the living room. A friendly looking woman is kneeling in front of Jouno, who is sitting on the couch. He has his hands folded in his lap, and he’s completely silent. After a minute, the woman stands up.

“Alright, I’ll let you guys enjoy the rest of your day. I'll be back tomorrow to check in on his new hearing aids.”

“I can hear you, you can talk to me, not Tecchou.”

“You’re right. I’ll be back tomorrow to check how those hearing aids are working out for you.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

“No problem.”

She walks past them, heading out of the door.

“Who’s with you?” Jouno asks, leaning back.

He tilts his head back, allowing Teruko to examine his face and his hair. He looks exactly the same as the last time she saw him.

“Teruko. Now, ma’am, what did you do to your hair?”

“What, do you like?” she asks, running her hands through her hair.

It’s already curled, making it look even shorter.

“I straightened it earlier, but then it looked like a bob. It looks much better when it’s curly.”

“Uh, I mean, it’s nice.”

“What did she do to her hair?” Jouno asks, perking up.

“She cut it. It’s almost as short as yours. I guess she won’t need anyone to put it up for her. I never could figure out how to do that.”

“That’s why you weren’t the one putting her hair up for her. Do you want to show me, ma’am?” he asks, sounding more timid than she’s ever heard from him.

“Of course.”

She walks over, kneeling down in front of the couch. She presses against his leg to let him know where she is. He reaches out, his hand first touching her face. He lingers there, tracing her nose and around her eyes almost as if he’s making sure that she hasn’t changed anything else. His fingers are soft, something that surprises her every time he does this. Then he makes his way towards her ear, then her hair. He runs his hand through her hair, all the way down. He pulls a few of the strands taunt to determine the length. It’s not hard enough to pull on her head though. She stays as still as possible as a smile crosses his face.

“It’s beautiful. I don’t know what caused the sudden change, but you look wonderful.”

Teruko smiles too, tears coming to her eyes.

I’m home.

The smile fades as quickly as it came though as her eyes catch the bandages on his arms.

“What happened?” she asks, reaching out to cautiously touch his arm.

“It’s no big deal,” Tecchou says, coming to sit down next to Jouno.

“Ok. Well, how have you guys been?”

“We’re adjusting. I’m finally getting used to my leg not working,” Tecchou says with a big smile.

“I’m not adjusting as quickly, but I’m coping. We don’t really have anything interesting to say. So, how about you tell us what you’ve been up to?” Jouno suggests, pulling her into his lap.

She leans back into him, letting her head fall into the crook of his neck.

“Ok, well, I have a new team. Three people. They keep insisting on calling me Commander. Also, they’re so useless. They don’t work hard, and they expect to be just as good as we were.”

Jouno tsks.

“Well, that’s not going to happen.”

“I know. Especially since they can’t even put their uniforms on right. I know that it’s a little difficult to get everything to stay perfect, but the day had just started. All three of them had something wrong with their outfits. They wouldn’t be able to go in front of our chain of command looking like that.”

“True, you have to have your uniform on point to go in front of command. Although we weren’t really the ones going in front of command.”

“That’s because Fukuchi did it. He was friends with everyone, so we weren’t even needed. They just expected him to keep us in check. I’m still earning respect as a leader.”

“Those kinds of things take time. Just be patient, and stay the course,” Tecchou says, pushing himself against Jouno’s shoulder.

They stay cuddled up like that, just talking for a few hours until someone comes to collect Teruko. Even as she’s escorted back onto base, she can’t help but feel at peace.

We’re moving forward the best that we can. Even if we can’t be together all the time, we’ll always have each other. Right now may be hard, but it’ll get better.

Chapter Text

A Couple Months Later

Teruko swings her feet back and forth, watching them smack into the wall in front of her. 

“Weee,” she says with a grin. 

Emi and Daiki stare at her like she just lost her mind. Haruki is the only one minding his own business, looking over the first piece of paperwork from the large stack in the middle of the table. Some of the papers are only for Teruko, but someone mixed them all together. So, now they’re just dealing with them, and anything that she specifically has to do is handed off to her. Emi clears her throat. Haruki slides a piece of paperwork to Emi and another one to Daiki. 

“Give me a few,” Teruko says, spinning the chair around to face the table again. 

He slides a few to her as she grabs a pen.

It’s quiet for a while before Emi says, “How did you end up working in the military, ma’am?” 

She’s watching Teruko with a skeptical look as she plays with her pen while she’s reading. 

“Oh, a recommendation from a friend.” 

“How old are you?” Daiki asks. 

“You guys are full of questions today, huh? Well, no talking, get back to working.” 

“But Commander!” Emi whines. 

Teruko pinches the bridge of her nose hard. 

“How about this? If you do all of this paperwork in a reasonable amount of time, and you do it quietly, we can have a Q and A.” 

Emi smiles, grabbing more paperwork. It only takes them an hour and a half before all of it is done. Teruko stands. 

“Alright, get set up in the living room. I’m going to file all of this, and I’ll be back. We can talk then.” 

She grabs the stack, even though it’s almost as tall as she is when it’s all put together. 

“Do you need any help?” Haruki asks, sounding a little nervous. 

“Nope.” 

Once she has everything filed, she just leans against the wall. It takes a few minutes for her to compose herself before she walks in. The three of them are sitting around the living room, all stretched out on the furniture. Teruko sits down on the floor by the coffee table. 

“Alright, what do you want to ask?” 

“Well, how long have the Hunting Dogs actually been working?” 

“Oh, I don’t remember. A long time.” 

“Alright, when’s your birthday?” 

“Some time in April.” 

“What was the highlight of your military career so far?” Haruki asks. 

“Oooh, I would have to say it started four years ago, and lasted until two years ago. Those two years were the highlight of my career.” 

“Can I ask what happened to your last team?” Emi asks quietly. 

Teruko hums, a thoughtful look on her face. 

“One of them is dead. His name was Tachihara. He spent most of his career infiltrating the mafia. Would you guys want to meet the other two? They live near here, and I think it’d be a good lesson for you guys.” 

“Yeah,” Daiki and Emi exclaim at the same time. 

“What are their names?” Haruki asks. 

“Jouno Saigiku and Tecchou Suehiro. I’ll see if I can set up for them to meet us on base sometime soon,” Teruko says, standing. “But, get back to work. I have to head to get our next set of orders. They think we’re coming up on being field ready.” 

“Really?” Emi asks, brightening. 

“Yeah, although I’m not so certain. Though you will learn more in the field than you do here. Maybe it’ll give you guys the kick in the pants that you need.”

She leaves and once she’s done, she calls Tecchou. It surprisingly doesn’t take long for them to set something up, and when Teruko comes back she tells them that Tecchou and Jouno are going to meet them on base in two days. Unfortunately that means that for the next two days all she hears about is how excited Daiki and Emi are to meet her former co-workers. 

Haruki seems more reserved about the whole thing. He once asked what could have happened that made it so that they didn’t work there anymore, but he never got an answer. Teruko goes to get Jouno and Tecchou from the gate, bringing them back to the dorms. Emi’s eyes widen as soon as they walk in. Jouno fiddles with his hands, playing with the long sleeves on his sweater. 

“Good morning,” Tecchou says with a small nod. 

“Morning,” Haruki says, standing. He bows low. “Thank you both for meeting with us today. The Commander has all good things to say.” 

Tecchou smiles, and Jouno smirks. 

“Of course she does.” 

“You should take a seat,” Teruko says to Tecchou, placing a gentle hand on his arm. 

He nods, wobbling towards the couch. He sits down, leaning his crutches against the chair. Jouno just rolls his wheelchair a little bit closer before readjusting his hearing aids. 

“Ok, the Commander told us that you guys wanted to hear a little bit about our careers as Hunting Dogs,” Jouno says. 

“If you wouldn’t mind sharing with us,” Haruki says. 

“It’s hard,” Tecchou says. 

“It’s harder after. We had a few good years when all five of us were working. We did good work, and we did it well. Though it did take a lot of work, and really long hours. It’s putting most of your time and effort into something, and that’s the only reason you’re still alive. If you start slacking, you end up like this,” Jouno says, motioning towards himself, then Tecchou. 

All of them stare at Jouno. 

“What exactly happened? There isn’t any official last mission for you guys,” Daiki says. 

Jouno smirks again. 

“That’s cause we were on vacation.” 

“Vacation?” Emi asks. 

Jouno nods. 

“Yup, vacation.” 

When he doesn’t continue, Tecchou clears his throat. “We were taking a vacation up in the mountains when there was a really bad storm. It caused a rock slide while we were trying to evacuate the nearby village. Tachihara was killed on site, and we were both injured. Jouno lost most of his hearing and his leg. I irreparably damaged my leg, because I was stupid and decided to go back into the village when Jouno and Tachihara didn’t come back. It didn’t help anything, and I put myself back in danger and ruined my leg.” 

“That’s terrible,” Daiki says quietly. 

“You’re going to have to speak up. Also, Tecchou, we talked about this. Whining about what you did or didn’t do isn’t going to help your mental health. You need to stop lingering on that. You made a decision that you thought was right, we had to do that all the time. You weren’t right this time, but you had to trust your instincts.” 

Tecchou looks down at his lap. 

“How do you two function now?” Haruki asks. 

“Barely, and with a lot more injuries than before,” Jouno mutters. 

“I’m adjusting to my crutches. The surgeries are harder though. I think they’re mad that we’re not able to work, but we still have to get them.” 

“They shouldn’t have used us like lab rats then,” Jouno declares, folding his arms. 

Tecchou shrugs. 

“I guess you’re right, but we did sign up for this.” 

“Hm, I just didn’t have any better options. But in all seriousness, there aren’t many kinds of disabilities that you can’t learn how to live with. I’ve been blind my whole life, but I never let it stop my career. I’ve done great things on both sides of the law. Tecchou is learning to live normally with his leg. Once I’m a little bit better off with my hearing aids, I’m going to get a prosthetic, and I should be able to get back to walking,” Jouno explains, his fingers tightly wrapped around his arms. 

“How can you handle that?” 

“Half of almost every disability is a mental hurdle. You have to decide that you can, and then figure out the actions that you need to take.” 

“I’m not good with words,” Tecchou says matter of factly. 

He reaches into the backpack that’s on Jouno’s wheelchair, and pulls out a ziploc bag. He opens it and pulls out a boiled egg. He takes a bite out of it, a loud crunch echoing in the room, surprising almost everyone. 

“If you don’t stop crunching on eggs while I have my hearing aids in, I’m going to stab you,” Jouno says through gritted teeth. 

Teruko walks back in from the kitchen. She’s holding a tray of snacks. She puts them down on the table before carefully taking the eggs away from Tecchou. 

“Why would you eat that?” Emi asks incredulously. 

“Because the first set of Hunting Dogs were way more eccentric than this one,” Teruko says, sitting down next to Tecchou. 

Jouno scrunches up his nose while the others look shocked. Tecchou just grabs a piece of cheese and sniffs it. 

“That’s one way to describe us,” Jouno says. 

“An accurate way,” Teruko snipes back, smirking. 

“Oh shut up.” 

She smiles softly before turning back to her new team. 

“Now, do you see what I mean? We were sent on way more dangerous missions than the one that did this. We just weren’t prepared then. You’re wanting to go on those same missions unprepared. If this is what happened to seasoned veterans, what do you think is going to happen to you?” 

They’re all quiet for a minute. 

Then Jouno says, “Well, I think you officially scared them.” 

“That’s good. They should be scared. Having body enhancements doesn’t make you invincible, or perfect. Shit happens, and you have to be ready and capable of handling that. Even now you guys are still handling more than they are. I don’t want you to go into the field unprepared, and end up dead. I don’t want any more blood on my hands. I want you to listen to me when I talk, and I want for you to train the way I tell you to train. Do you understand why I act the way that I do?” 

All of them glance at each other before nodding. 

“Good, now we’re going to pick training back up tomorrow, and I expect you guys to listen and put your all into it. Now go, I want to talk with my friends.” 

It’s not long before it’s quiet again, just the three of them sitting there. 

“How are things?” Teruko asks, leaning forward. 

“Better. Jouno and I are both going to therapists now. I think our mental states have drastically improved, and I’ve gotten so much better with the crutches. I haven’t fallen in weeks, and Jouno can keep his hearing aids in for hours every day now.” 

Jouno smiles. 

“I feel good being able to hear again, but how have you been, ma’am? I can’t imagine how hard this has been on you.” 

“You’re right. I felt so guilty that I was fine, and you guys weren’t. Even though it was for the better. Your healing is what’s letting me heal. The better you get, the less guilt I feel.” 

“While I’m glad that you’re feeling better now, you should think about seeing a professional that isn’t the grief counselor on base. He’s trash, and you shouldn’t be so tied to us,” Jouno says, grabbing her hand. 

They sit like that for a while in silence. Teruko thinks about how rare this quiet used to be. How loud everything used to be, and she briefly wonders if she’s ever going to be the same person that she used to be even though she knows she won’t. She’s not supposed to be, but one day she’ll be able to jump around and act a fool again without the weight in her chest trying to crush her. For now, she feels light and happy in their silence.  

Chapter Text

Jouno picks at the bandages on his right arm as he sits across from Tecchou. Tecchou is eating loudly, though Jouno can’t seem to find it in him to be upset about it. The amount of noises was overwhelming when he first started wearing his hearing aids all day, but he quickly adjusted again. Now even the noises that used to annoy him are comforting, especially if they’re coming from Tecchou. 

He’s been the only constant thing in the last year since they got hurt. Teruko has been working a lot. First she was putting all of her effort into training her new crew so they didn’t end up dead, then she was given mission after mission. It feels like whenever the Hunting Dogs have off time, Teruko is given a solo mission. They still see her occasionally, and she seems fine, so Jouno allows himself to take heart in that. 

“What are you going to be up to today?” Tecchou asks, setting his phone down on the table with a light thud. 

“I’m just going to work later. What about you?” 

“Same. Though I did get a call from Teruko earlier.” 

“What did she say?” 

“Oh, she didn’t. She hung up immediately after I answered. I just thought I should mention it.” 

“Yeah, that was weird. Well, don’t worry about it too much. We can call her later after work hours are over. I’m going to the kitchen to get some coffee, do you want anything?” 

“Coffee with chocolate sauce in it.” 

“Alright, I’ll put that in a travel mug, cause you’re going to be late for work if you wait and have your coffee here.” 

Tecchou hums his agreement, standing up from the table too. 

“I’m going to get dressed.” 

Jouno walks into the kitchen, making them both coffee before setting them on the table. He bypasses his cane that’s sitting in the hallway, and just grabs his wallet and jacket instead. His hearing has gotten good enough that he doesn’t even need it most of the time. 

Tecchou has been doing physical therapy consistently since the injury, even though they said it probably wouldn’t help very much. Despite that, he barely walks with a limp now, and he hasn’t had to use his crutches in a couple months. Jouno moves with practiced ease around their small house, getting everything ready for them to be gone for the day. He can faintly hear Tecchou getting ready in his room. He was already dressed for the day when they sat down for breakfast, so he just cleans the dishes before grabbing his coffee. 

“Tecchou, you good?” Jouno yells, tucking his hair behind one ear. 

“Yeah, I’m good!” 

“Alright, I’m heading to work now. I’ll see you later!” 

“Bye, Jouno!” 

Jouno smiles as he walks out of the door. It’s a short walk to work. It’s only fifteen minutes before he’s walking into the government office that he works in. He works in the recruitment and training division. Tecchou decided not to get a government job, but Jouno knew he would do better there. Sure the hours are terrible and his bosses are trash, but he knew he’d do better in a higher pressure environment. He couldn’t go straight back to civilian life, especially since he never knew how to do that anyway. 

He greets his co-workers as he walks past, heading straight to his desk to pick up his paperwork. He doesn’t get off of work until a little after five thirty, so it’s almost six by the time he gets back home. 

“Tecchou, you home?” Jouno calls, dropping his keys and wallet back onto the hallway table. 

“Yes, I am. You’re late.” 

“Sorry, I got held up. Do you know what we’re doing for dinner?”

“No.” 

“Ok, I’ll make something. I just went grocery shopping, so we have options.” 

Jouno slips his jacket off with a sigh. 

“It’s a bit hot to keep wearing that all the time,” Tecchou says, coming up behind Jouno. 

“I know, but we both know what I was doing.”

“Yeah, but you keep them bandaged, and they’re mostly healed.” 

“It’s not about that. It’s about the way people think about that. Even when they’re nothing more than scars, I won’t be able to wear that openly.” Jouno takes a deep breath, before continuing, “Anyway, how was your day?”

“It was fine. Though I hate paperwork.” 

“You work as a security guard for a mall, why were you doing paperwork?” 

“I don’t know. It was some kind of insurance paperwork.” 

“You didn’t just sign something, did you?” 

“No, I tried reading it. Then I had no idea what it was talking about, so I said I was going to bring it home to have someone else read it.” 

“How does that help you? I can’t read it.” 

“I figured either I’d read it to you, or I could get advice on something else to do.” 

Jouno hums, pulling a pot out of the cabinet. 

“What do you want for dinner?”

“I don’t know. Spaghetti with strawberries?” 

“Spaghetti it is. I’m making a marinara sauce though.”

“I know, but you should add strawberries.” 

“Oh, tough, we just ran out this morning.” 

“That is tough.”

“I’m going to be cooking meat at the same time. I got some yesterday, and I want to cook it before I freeze it. Do you want to call Teruko while I’m working?” 

“Yes, but my phone is dead.”

“Come here. My phone’s in my pocket. I’ll grab it as soon as I finish setting this up, and wash my hands. Then you can call her from there.” 

“Ok, I’m behind you.” 

“Alright, thanks for the heads up,” Jouno says sarcastically. 

His leg aches as straightens back up from grabbing another pot out for the pasta. He pulls his phone out of his pocket, offering it to Tecchou before opening the meat. He sets everything up before Tecchou calls Teruko. 

She answers on the very last ring with a slightly less cheerful than normal, “Hey, Jouno, what’s up?” 

“Hello, you’re on speaker with me and Jouno. I was just wondering why you called me then hung up earlier.” 

“Oh, I’m not really sure what you’re talking about. It probably wasn’t me. My phone’s been in my bag since noon, and before that it was living on the dining room table. Emi or Haruki probably accidentally dialed you. I might have left my phone on.” 

“Oh, that’s fine. Even though you didn’t need anything, do you have a minute to talk?” 

“Yeah, absolutely. I’m taking my first break of the day. Daiki got hurt on our last mission, so I’ve been dealing with him, the doctors, and all of the paperwork that comes with it.” 

“Oh, that’s a lot. Is he going to be ok?” Jouno asks, casually leaning against the counter. 

“Yeah, he’s going to be fine. He was stabbed, but he’s going to be fine. He does have to stay in the infirmary for the next couple days, but it only happened yesterday, so that’s not too bad.” 

“Yeah, it’s not,” Tecchou says, nodding. 

“It must have been a pretty bad spot to be stabbed in though. A few days in the infirmary is a lot for someone like us,” Jouno says with a frown. 

“Yeah, it was a bad spot. Though I’ve seen Tecchou do more damage to you than he took.” 

“Tecchou stabbed me in the throat one time by accident. I don’t think that should be the standard.” 

“Yeah, I know. That was the time that I was thinking of.” 

“Please don’t make me think about that again. I could have killed you.” 

Jouno laughs. 

“Yeah, it was pretty bad. You shouldn’t have tried stabbing me in the shoulder. That’s way too high.” 

“Yes, and I’m aware of that now.” 

Teruko laughs. “It doesn’t matter. You’re both fine now. Also, I have the weekend off as long as the others don’t cause any problems between now and then. I was thinking that I’d stay with you guys.” 

“Yeah, we’d love that,” Jouno says. 

“Good. We can make more definitive plans a little closer to.” 

“Ok, what do you want to talk about?” Tecchou asks. 

“Actually, I have to go. Someone is screaming my name, and they’re really loud. I gotta figure out what that’s about. I’ll talk to you guys later. Love you.” 

“Love you too,” Jouno says. 

“Me too,” Tecchou adds, and Teruko laughs. 

“Ok, bye.” 

She hangs up as Tecchou moves to the doorway of the kitchen. He stays there, just watching Jouno make dinner. The rest of the week is quiet, and they don’t hear from Teruko again until Friday. She calls them at six, when they’re both lounging on the couch. Jouno doesn’t even pick his head up off the back of his chair even though his phone is the one ringing on the table. Tecchou lazily reaches forward, grabs it, and answers. He puts it on speaker before setting the phone on his chest. 

“Good afternoon, my wonderful boys. How are you two?” 

“We’re fine, just really tired. I’m glad it’s the end of the week.” 

“Yeah, I’m about to get off of work. So, I’ll be at your place in a couple of hours. I’m leaving these three alone overnight for the first time, so I have to make sure that everything is set up for the weekend.” 

“That’s fine. We’ll be here. Are you gonna be eating dinner with us?” Jouno asks. 

“Yeah, do you guys have something planned, or do you want me to pick something up on my way over?” 

“It’d be great if you picked something up. I don’t feel like cooking.” 

“Ok, I’ll see you guys in a couple hours then. Bye.” 

“Bye,” Tecchou says before she hangs up. 

Neither of them move from the couch. They leave the TV playing the news on a low volume until someone knocks on the door. Tecchou turns to Jouno, but the door opens before either of them can stand to let them in. Teruko bounces in, locking the door behind her. She’s not in uniform, and is wearing a light pink lace skirt and a sparkly black shirt. 

“You look nice,” Tecchou says, sitting up straighter. 

“Aw, thank you!” 

She runs over, her short curls bouncing around her face. She sets the bag of takeout on the table before wedging herself between them on the couch. Jouno holds out his hand, and Teruko takes it. She places her face in his hand, leaning against him. She flings her legs over Tecchou’s lap with a sigh. 

“Ok, what do you guys wanna do this weekend?” Jouno asks, wrapping his other arm around her midsection. 

“There’s a fair in town,” Tecchou suggests. 

“Oooh, I’ve always wanted to go to one of those! Can we please go, Jouno?” Teruko begs. 

“Yeah, I don’t mind. I want you to bring your crutches, even if you leave them in the car. Just in case,” Jouno says, nudging Tecchou’s leg with his foot. 

“Alright, I can do that. You did drive here, right, ma’am? We haven’t invested in a car since I can’t drive.” 

“Yeah, don’t worry about it. I drove here with my personal car.” 

“Ok, well do we want to do that tomorrow?” Jouno asks. 

“Yeah, that works. Then maybe we can just chill out, or do a bit of light shopping on Sunday,” Teruko suggests. 

“That works.” 

“When do you guys wanna eat?” Teruko asks. 

“I don’t know. In a little bit,” Tecchou replies, his eyes drooping. 

“You guys don’t seem like you’re going to make it much longer.” 

Jouno hums, not picking his head up. 

“Ok, we can just rest here for a while.” 

She tucks her head against his chest, closing her eyes. Jouno wakes up to his phone going off. He sighs, reaching for it. Then he realizes that he almost just dumped Teruko onto the floor. She’s still asleep half in his lap with her legs across Tecchou’s lap. He leans around her to pick up his phone and silences the call. There’s no way that anyone important is calling him this early. Luckily no one else woke up to it yet. 

He settles back against the couch. However, it’s not long after that when Teruko wakes up. She yawns, stretching. She barely misses Jouno’s face with her fist. 

“Ma’am.” 

“Oh, good morning.” 

She sits up, pulling her legs off of Tecchou and pulling herself fully into Jouno’s lap. 

“That can’t be comfortable,” he says, motioning to his metal leg. 

“Nah, it’s plenty comfortable.” 

Tecchou sits up straighter. He looks around, before locking onto them. 

“Oh.” 

He drops back down into a slouch. 

“Did I wake you by moving?” Teruko asks. 

She crawls off of Jouno and onto Tecchou. He wraps his arms around her as Jouno stands up. 

“I’m going to make coffee and breakfast.” 

“We’ve gotta get out of the habit of getting up so early. It’s only six,” Tecchou says, looking at his phone. 

“Jouno, you don’t have to make breakfast, just coffee. We didn’t eat the takeout last night,” Teruko says, having spotted the bag on the table. 

“I wanna eat takeout for breakfast,” Tecchou agrees, nodding aggressively. 

“Fine, I’ll just make three coffees.” 

“Two, I’m not supposed to have caffeine,” Teruko corrects. 

“Why not?” Tecchou asks, frowning concernedly. 

“I’m having my surgery on Monday, and they said no caffeine over the weekend. Didn’t say anything about sugar though, so I’m going to eat fried funnel cake.” 

Jouno laughs. 

“Alright, I’ll just make the two.” 

He comes back in a few minutes later with two cups of coffee. He hands one to Tecchou before sitting back down. 

“What time do you guys want to go?” 

“Ten. We should watch TV until then. I never had time for that anymore,” Teruko says, bouncing slightly. 

Tecchou smiles. 

“Ok, I’ve watched so many series in the last year. More than I did in the rest of my life, I think.” 

Jouno hands her the remote before settling back against the couch, nursing his coffee. Teruko scrolls for a few minutes before starting a show. They watch it, listening to her commentary until nine thirty. She gets up at that point, putting her empty plate down. 

“Alright, I’m going to change and get a shower.” 

“Alright, let us know when you’re done,” Jouno says, turning the TV off. 

Once they’re all ready, they head out to Teruko’s car. She drives them to the fair, which isn’t busy yet since it just opened for the day. 

“Come on, they have games over here!” Teruko squeals, pulling them over to one of the stalls. 

“This one is a dart game. I wanna play!” 

“Ok, then play,” Jouno says with a shrug. 

“I’ll play too,” Tecchou says. 

“Sorry this one is twelve or older,” the man running the game says. 

Jouno snorts, folding his arms. 

“So what? Give me some darts,” Teruko replies. 

“Are you over twelve?” 

“Yes.” 

He turns to Jouno and Tecchou like he wants confirmation from them. 

“I don’t know how old she is, but older than me,” Tecchou offers. 

The man looks confused. 

“What do you mean?” 

“He means that he’s twenty six, and I’m older than that.” 

“Can I see an ID?” he asks. 

Jouno sighs, knowing that he wouldn’t have even made a big deal about this if they had just said yes. No one working in a place like this cares that much, but you don’t exactly look at Teruko and think she’s mid to late twenties. Teruko huffs, and pulls her wallet out of her pocket. She pulls out her military ID and shows it to him. 

His eyes widen slightly, but he nods. He hands her the darts and steps off to the side. She manages to pop two balloons with each of the darts. Then Tecchou goes, and does a couple popping two balloons, and one only popping one. Then they pick out a stuffed bear for Tecchou, and two stuffed turtles for Teruko. Jouno stands to the side, just listening. Once they’re done, Teruko leads them through the stalls. 

“Oooh, there’s a ring toss!” she squeals, running over. 

Her eyes are lit up with joy as she turns back to look at the other two. Jouno feels himself smile more genuinely than he has in a long time, even though he can’t see her expression. 

“Jouno, do you wanna try this one?” 

Jouno nods, tucking his hands in his pockets. 

“As soon as you’re done playing, I’ll play.” 

He’s glad that she waited to ask him until they were done with darts, though he’s sure that was probably on purpose. She probably knows that he doesn’t trust himself and his hearing enough to start throwing sharp objects. 

“Fine, I’ll go first. Don’t expect me to go easy on you,” she says, smirking. 

Jouno rolls his eyes, but doesn’t respond. His smile doesn’t fade either. She gives him her turtles and plays, doing just as well as she did last time. Then she turns to Jouno. 

“Alright, give me the stuffies.” 

Jouno hands them to her before walking up to the booth. He knows that the man behind it is probably giving him a weird look, but he doesn’t let it faze him, just holding his hand out for the rings. He waits, listening. The wind blows through a minute later, knocking each of the bottles together lightly in a small cacophony of noise. He takes a deep breath before tossing the rings. 

“You missed one, and got the other three on the bottles,” Tecchou whispers, close to Jouno’s ear. 

Jouno smiles a little wistfully. 

“Better than it could have been.” 

After that, they continue playing games for a while before heading to the food stands. Teruko and Tecchou end up getting cotton candy, cheese curds, caramel apples, corn dogs, and fried funnel cake. Jouno makes a face as they start eating their food. 

“Do you not want anything?” Tecchou asks, his mouth full. 

“Please don’t talk with your mouth full. We both know that you don’t have the manners of a toddler, so stop. Also, no. None of that sounds like something I would want to eat.” 

“Well, I know that we won’t eat all of this. So, if you change your mind, you can have some of the leftovers.” 

“Ok, thank you.” 

Jouno puts his head into his arms with a small sigh. 

“You alright?” Teruko asks, wiping her mouth. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just been a while since I did this much in one day. I’m more tired than I thought I would be. I only started going back to the gym a couple of months ago, but I feel like it’s done me a world of good. I thought I’d be physically tired too after today, but I’m actually not.” 

“That’s so good. How about you, Tecchou? How are you?” 

“At the gym or right now?” he asks, cocking his head, and sounding a bit confused. 

“Well, I meant right now, but you can tell me what your gym gains are too,” Teruko replies, trying not to laugh. 

“Oh, well, I got into the gym a little faster than Jouno, but I haven’t been going consistently like he has. Also, I feel good right now. Really happy, though I do feel a bit off.” 

“What do you mean by off?” 

“It’s not weird for the three of us to hang out alone. It wasn’t even weird when we were working together, and there were five of us, but this just feels different. Even though I’m used to us spending time alone, I guess I’m just used to having an excuse when I think about the other two. Like Tachihara being busy and being too bitter to want to make friends. He didn’t come into the military for that, and it took him a long time to start to heal, and change his mind. The Commander was always drunk, hung over, or working. I guess it’s just weird that it’s because they’re gone, and not something less permanent.” 

Jouno picks his head up, resting his weight on his elbows. 

“You’re right. It does feel different, but this isn’t bad. This is good, and it’s good for us.” 

Teruko nods, the smile never leaving her face. 

“The Commander made his choices, and you’re right. We didn’t get enough time with Tachihara, but there’s nothing we can do about that now. Also, I know we all blame ourselves for what happened, but there’s nothing any of us could have done differently. I’ve realized that we did the best that we could, and we’re the only reason that there weren’t more casualties that night. It sucks that it had to be him, and it sucks that it had to be the two of you, but we were the best that we could be. It just wasn’t enough, and that was always going to happen at some point. Nothing lasts forever, and we knew that we weren’t invincible. What we have to do now is be happy that we’re all alive. I know firsthand how hard that is, but I’ve decided that I can.” 

Jouno grabs her hand. 

“I’m sorry that you had to go through what you did, and I know the guilt hit you the hardest. Just know that we love you, and are here for you.” 

Tecchou just nods vigorously. 

“I love you guys too,” she says, laying her head on her and Jouno’s conjoined hands. 

“Alright, we should get home. Spend the rest of the day inside,” Jouno says standing. 

Teruko jumps up. 

“Give me a piggyback ride, Jouno!” 

Jouno smiles as he thinks back to the first time that he handed Teruko off to Tachihara, and how it felt to have them interact for the first time. He picks her up, putting her on his shoulders. He has to rebalance a little bit, but then it feels just like it used to. Especially when Tecchou grabs his hand, the one that isn’t holding Teruko’s leg to make sure that she stays stable. They walk back to the car like that, holding each other.