A/N: Written for shipping week at Caesar's Palace. Prompt: Awkward first time
"Good morning! I hope you both got at least some sleep last night. Your teammates are ready to meet you. Welcome to the MWPSB, Inspectors."
Kougami gave the tour guide a quick, nervous smile and followed him to the elevators. "Hey, we're Inspectors now, Gino. Can you believe it?" He whispered to his best friend who was walking next to him, straight-backed and proper as usual.
"Yeah." Came the distracted response. The young man was busy looking around the spacious lobby and didn't notice the quizzical look that Kougami shot him. Ginoza wasn't the type to gawk at graceful architecture or sleek lines, but, Kou supposed, nerves tended to make people do odd things.
As they made their way up towards the Division offices, Kougami was only half-listening to their tour guide as he pointed out offices and rooms and lounges and elevators. He was busy fidgeting with his suit and watching an erratically-behaving Ginoza crane his neck around every open door they passed. And despite the sheer unconceivableness of the idea, he didn't think Gino was even listening at all.
"Hey. Gino." Kougami hissed, glancing surreptitiously at their tour guide. "Ginoza." Still no response. As they turned yet another corner, Kou took the chance to 'accidentally' bump into his friend. Gino turned an annoyed glare at him. "What?" He asked.
"You, of all people, haven't been paying attention since we stepped foot inside. Are you, like, looking for something or what?" He muttered, careful to keep his voice low. Much to his surprise, he saw a slight widening of his friend's eyes. "Wait, you are looking for something?" He asked, confused. This was their first time anywhere besides the ground floor, after all.
"No. Of course not. What would I be looking for?" Ginoza replied, deliberately keeping his gaze rigidly forward, his entire body stiff as a board. "Liar." Kougami accused.
Ginoza shot him a glare, but before he could respond, the forgotten tour guide came to a stop and both young men had to backpedal frantically to avoid bumping into him.
"This is the Division 3 office. As I said, only one of you is assigned here, but both of you can come in and say hello." He said, cheerfully oblivious to the fact that neither of his charges had been paying attention for the past 10 minutes.
"Right. Thank you." Kougami said guiltily. Great, which one of us is assigned here? He leaned over to ask if Gino knew, but was distracted by the fact that Ginoza looked like he had just swallowed a worm. No, make that a snake. A long, wiggly, snake. Just then the doors opened and five faces swiveled in their direction.
"Good morning! I'm Inspector Yoshitoshi Waku. Let me introduce you to our Enforcers." A tall, friendly-looking man came out from behind his desk to greet them. When named, each Enforcer offered up a smile or a nod, and some raised a hand in a wave.
"Right here is Iwakura Soichi and Muraguchi Hiroaki."
"Nishiwaki Shino and Ebisawa Sakiko."
"And we have currently have one position open, so leaves our last Enforcer, Masaoka Tomomi."
Kougami listened intently, mouthing each name and nodding, just in case this was to be his Division. He rather hoped he wouldn't have to ask. When the last Enforcer had been introduced – the oldest he'd ever seen – he bowed in acknowledgment.
"It is a pleasure to meet you all. My name is Kougami Shinya." He stepped to the side to allow Gino a turn to introduce himself, but the man had gone white as a ghost. Kou could see the alarm in his best friend's face but that was far from the only thing flashing through his eyes. 5 pairs of expectant eyes turned to him, but Ginoza didn't move.
"Gino, you're being rude." Kougami muttered, discreetly nudging his friend's foot with his own. He was more than a little worried by now; Gino hadn't acted like himself since they walked through the doors – not one bit. He was so going to be questioned about everything at lunchtime, if they were allowed. Face red with embarrassment, Ginoza bowed quickly, making sure to go down a little bit farther in apology.
"It is a pleasure to meet everyone. My name is Nobuchika Ginoza." Kougami noticed the slight emphasis on his last name, but only because he'd heard Gino introduce himself hundreds of times before. His innate detective was now raging at full force. There was something going on with Ginoza and Kou was going to figure it because that's what best friends did. Heaven knows Gino wouldn't tell him anytime soon.
"Well, let's not waste time here. I'm sure you're both eager to get started on your first day! I just got a message from the front desk and I need to get back to the lobby. My sincere apologizes, Inspector Ginoza. Why don't you have Enforcer Masaoka escort you to Division 1?" The tour guide (forgotten again, poor guy) spoke up.
"He's our best-behaved Enforcer, and it's just down the hall, so you needn't worry." Inspector Waku said reassuringly So that means I'm here. Well that solves that problem. Kougami exchanged a nod with his new partner, ready to learn the ropes.
Meanwhile, Ginoza was looked very much not reassured. His face twitched and he looked like he was going to protest, but whatever he was going to say was swallowed down, and he nodded stiffly. Kougami smiled at him, seeking eye contact. Are you going to be okay? He asked, knowing his friend's dislike for latent criminals. Shoot me now, was Gino's look (in Kou's words, of course. Ginoza would never say something so… un-Gino). But there was something deeper, darker, and more complicated in there too. Before Kou could even start to try and figure it out, Ginoza gave a small sigh and shut his eyes for a brief second. When he opened them again, the blinds were down and the curtain of pure professionalism closed. He gave Kou a very small, wry, smile. I'll be okay. See you at lunch. I think. He turned to the waiting Enforcer and nodded curtly.
"Alright then. Let's go, Enforcer. Don't even think about trying anything." His voice was cold and distant, and made Inspector Waku frown slightly. Masaoka, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind.
"Yes. It's right down this hall."
"That's 'Yes, Inspector Ginoza' to you, da-dog." Ginoza's voice wobbled on the last word, but he covered it up with a cough.
"My apologies, Inspector Ginoza. I will be back shortly, Inspector Waku, Inspector Kougami." The older man's voice was gentle but weighed down with immense sadness.
Kougami watched them with growing trepidation. He hadn't heard Gino talk like that in a very long time, since back when they were still polite acquaintances in high school. That Ginoza had been incredibly uptight and wound up. The smallest thing would make his Crime Coefficient rise. If this job was going to back that Ginoza come back…
"He'll be fine, Inspector Kougami." Waku's slightly irritated voice broke into his daze. "You need to learn to trust your team members, you know." The new Inspector ducked his head sheepishly. "Oh! I'm sorry sir, I– Gino – never mind. Sir." He stammered out, casting one last look down the hall before following the Senior Inspector to his desk.
It wasn't until Kougami had gotten settled into his own desk and was busy looking over some annotated example reports that Masaoka returned. His station happened to be right in front of Kougami's.
"I…stopped by the restroom on my way back." Came the quiet, sullen explanation for his extended absence. "Don't make a habit of it." Inspector Waku said calmly, though Kougami didn't think he sounded too worried.
" Knew a long time ago he took his mother's name, and yet… Ach, toughen up, old man." Masaoka's mumbling caught Kou's attention, and suddenly all the pieces fell in place. His eyes widened in shock and he sat back against his chair with an exhale. I can't imagine what Gino must be feeling right now. Thank goodness he scored higher than me and got the Division 1 slot. Wow….okay… that explains a lot.
"Is everything alright, Inspector Kougami?" It was Waku again, one eyebrow raised. Kougami shook his head and stood up. "Just…one thing I need to sort out." He said, moving to the other side of his desk to where Masaoka sat.
"So. You're Gino's old man, huh?" The words came out with a little more bite than Kou had intended, but he didn't bother to apologize. Why should he? Every single problem that his best friend had ever struggled with stemmed from this man sitting right in front of him.
The stocky Enforcer looked up with sad eyes and a regretful smile. "Not the reunion I imagined, but, well, who can blame him?" He sighed. Kougami snorted, arms crossed across the chest. "Definitely not you." It was more than a little snarky, but Kou wasn't exactly feeling magnanimous right now.
There was dead silence in the office for a few moments as Kougami continued to stare Masaoka down. Apparently it wasn't just Kougami who was ignorant to this information.
"He hadn't told me your name yet, you know." He said, quieter and calmer this time. "We've been friends since high school and the only thing I ever knew about Ginoza Nobuchika's father was that he was a latent criminal. It wasn't until graduation that he told me that he was nine when you walked out of his life, and halfway through college that I learned that you were a detective." Kougami paused for a moment, waiting for Masaoka to meet his gaze before continuing.
"That's how much you hurt him, Masaoka Tomomi. Keep that in mind next time you see him."
A/N: Yoshitoshi Waku is canonically the Inspector of Divison 3 at this time, according to the manga Inspector Kougami Shinya. However, since the Wiki did not include the names or the numbers of the Enforcers, I went and found a Japanese name generator xD. If anyone does have the canon information, I'd gladly go back and edit them in. Anyway, reviews would be fantastic!