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Apart from the little crashout in the morning, Juuzou's day had been mostly ordinary. Although it was spent trying not to notice the strange way Seidou looked at him..
At least his shift had ended early today, the few hour nap in the afternoon was certainly needed.
He'd risen to the sun setting outside and decided to grab some dinner- dumplings and takoyaki- from a nearby convenience store. Mochi for desert too.
And now his meal was finally done. Needless to say he was proud of himself. He was cooking.. sort of. He was eating some actually food. He'd survived work without Shinohara. He'd even done his laundry before going to bed!
Juuzou's life seemed to at last begin to resemble the normalcy he'd seen in other people!
And now he could finally reward himself with the first steaming hot bite of savory goodness. He raised the chopsticks to his mouth, about to bite into his well deserved takoyaki, when his cellphone started ringing.
Ugh.
It was 8pm.. who could be calling at this hour?
'Fun police👎'
Oh great...
He sighed and put his food down.
"Suzuya-"
"Did no one teach you, Seidou.. that you don't call your colleagues in their off hours..?"
He couldn't help but grin when he heard the man huff on the other line.
"That's not even true- And what could you possibly be doing thats so important you can't take a call?"
"I was about to eat dinner, It's getting cold..."
A brief silence.
"So is this an emergency orrrrrr"
"No, it's not.. it's just. Are you doing okay?"
Juuzou looked up from the chopsticks he'd started to fidget with and tilted his head a little, as if Seidou could see him.
"I'm doing good, yeah!"
"Are you sure? You didn't.. you know.. look that way today.."
"That was hours agooo.. I'm fine now!"
"..Do you... do you want to talk about what that was about..?"
"Hm, no." Juuzou decided to just start eating, his bliss had been ruined either way,"Not really.." He'd already told the guy too much already..
"Okay.. I won't push you. This is probably weird. But uh.. I thought about something.. you know, earlier.."
"mh?"
"That I know nothing about you. And I've been.. I don't know..."
"Hm.."
A few seconds of silence on the other line, as if Seidou needed a while to find the right words, or convince himself to be forward.
"I've been treating you like a... freak or.. or criminal. When I don't know why you're how you are in the first place."
What was Seidou on about..? He'd always enjoyed their banter! Juuzou swallowed and took a sip from the tea he'd brewed. It was lukewarm by now.
"I like messing with you is all!"
"Can I ask why for that?"
"Hmm I don't know.. it's just funny how uptight you are, I guess."
Clearly not the touching or complex answer Seidou had been looking for.
"Uptight?! It's called manners-"
"Mado-chan has manners, you. are uptight."
A groan from Seidou.
"Thats not even the point- Look. Listen. I'm calling to say that.. if you need anything you can ask me, okay?"
"Okay.." Juuzou hummed, more focused on his food than whatever nonsense Takizawa was blabbering on about.
"Even if it's weird.. or if you need to vent or whatever. Shinohara is right, we should look out for eachother as a Squad."
"Sure"
"So if you need anything let me know, alright?"
"Alright! Bye!"
He hung up
before Seidou could say another word.
At least he'd be able to eat the Mochi in peace.