"C'mon man, she's not that scary, I promise," Kouno said in direct contradiction of all his previous warnings to Hei. "Just go up and knock, she won't bite your head off. Probably not. I mean, she wants the report, right?"
Hei realized that he'd been staring at the closed office door. "What? Oh, right. Yeah, I know."
"Don't stop to discuss it – just drop it off and turn around. Beer in twenty, remember? It's Friday night, I wanna get out of here at a decent time for once."
Saitou snorted from the other side of the low desk divider. "The beer will be there no matter what time we get off; it's not like you have a hot date or anything."
"You don't know that - I might."
"If you did, you would've spent the whole day bragging about it," Ootsuka muttered from her workstation without a single pause in her rapid keystrokes.
"Yeah, there's nothing about your personal life we don't know; you never shut up about it. You should be more like Li here - he doesn't go telling the whole world all about his dating life."
"That's because he doesn't have one."
"Kouno!" Ootsuka exclaimed, indignant. She turned to face them. "Just because Li doesn't talk about private things at work doesn't mean he doesn't have a personal life."
"Come on, he would tell us if he was seeing someone! Sorry man," Kouno said to Hei, "don't mean to sound rude. You're quiet, but you're not some weird reclusive or anything. If you were dating someone, you'd at least mention it, right?"
"Actually…I'm not sure," Hei said. Was he so quiet that they didn't think he had any kind of life outside of work? He'd thought that he'd been making a real effort to be part of the team…
Saitou frowned. "You're not sure you would tell us?"
"No - I mean, I'm not sure if I'm dating someone?"
There was a long pause in which they all stared at him. Then Kouno said, "You mean like a friends with benefits thing?" He sounded surprised, and, Hei thought, slightly impressed.
"Not really. So far we've just gotten dinner a few times, after work."
Ootsuka leaned her chin on her hand. "So, more of a friendly meetup than a date. Do you want it to be a date?"
"Well, yeah. I just don't really know how to ask if it is one, you know?"
"Hm," Ootsuka nodded. "Do you walk her home after?"
"No. We live in opposite directions, so that doesn't really work. Though last night she drove me home, because it was raining pretty hard."
"So you invited her in, right?" Kouno asked with a suggestive raise of one eyebrow.
Hei shook his head. It had been more than tempting; especially after the long - and thorough - goodbye they'd had in the car.
The place where he was living now was fine for him, but it was even more rundown than Umitsuki Apartments had been; at least Misuzu had always kept her property clean. This place was rent-by-the-week; not somewhere Misaki would be comfortable. She had very tactfully refrained from commenting when they'd pulled up outside, but her lips had pressed into the flat line that meant that she was less than impressed.
"Not a hottie, then. Well, you're better off - hey!" Kouno broke off as Ootsuka swatted the back of his head.
"Li's a gentleman," she said. "I'm sure he wants to be respectful and not rush things."
Actually, Hei wouldn't mind rushing things; that was the problem. Misaki was the best thing in his life; he wanted to do this right.
"I just want to do things the - the normal way, and see where it goes…" he said.
Kouno squinted. "What's the normal way?"
"I…don't really know."
Ootsuka held up a hand. "Have you kissed her yet?"
Hei nodded, feeling a slight blush warm his cheeks. He was slightly unnerved by all the attention; but at the same time, it was a bit of relief to talk to other people without needing to fear that he was giving too much of himself away.
"So, you've had a few ambiguous dinners; you've kissed," she ticked each point off on her fingers. "What you need next is some kind of outing, where you pick her up and drop her off. Something that's not dinner again, but more obviously a date date."
"Well…I had been thinking about asking her to go to a neighborhood festival with me."
"Perfect! When is it?"
"Tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow. And you haven't asked her yet?" Oostuka looked aghast; Saitou laughed.
"There's still plenty of time - Li can call her after we leave the bar."
"Saitou, you don't understand." Kouno waved his hand airily. "Women need time to plan for these sorts of things. What outfit are they going to wear? Do they have to go shopping? How long will they need to do their hair?"
"Kouno, you're awful," Ootsuka huffed. "I just meant, she might have made other plans already. And then she'll be disappointed that she can't go with Li. And if she says no, then how does he know that she really does have other plans, or she just doesn't want to go?"
"I don't even know if she'd like the festival," he said quietly. "I mean, I think she will; but what if she says yes just to make me happy, but really she hates it?" He didn't think Misaki would go quite that far, but still. And Ootsuka did have a point. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Is dating always this hard?"
"Yes," said Ootsuka and Saitou at the same time Kouno said, "No."
"Think of the last time you asked a girl out," Ootsuka said, shooting Kouno an annoyed glare. "Was it easy then?"
Hei's brow wrinkled in thought.
"How did you do it?" she prompted.
"I arranged to bump into her on a deserted street when she was emotionally distraught after my apparent death," he said.
They stared.
"Dark," Kouno said at last.
Hei coughed. "That was, uh, a joke. I just, um, asked if she wanted to go stargazing," he lied.
Ootsuka smiled at him. "See, it's easy. Just don't be afraid, and ask."
"I'm working myself up to it," he muttered, refraining from stealing another glance at the door.
"You're all still here?" Misaki asked, and it was all Hei could do to keep from jumping out of his skin. How had she left the office without him hearing?
"Just getting ready to head out," Saitou told her. "We're all going for a beer at that place down the street."
"Oh. All of you?" Was it his imagination, or was there a note of disappointment in her voice? They hadn't made express plans to eat that night.
Saitou chuckled. "We finally convinced Li to come with us. You know you're always invited too, Chief."
"I still have a lot of work to finish up tonight," Misaki said curtly. Then she gave Hei a significant look. "You have something for me?"
He stared blankly; her gaze flicked down to the paper still grasped in his hand. "Oh, the report. Yeah. Here."
"You're awfully distracted this evening." She frowned as she took the page, then sat down at the database computer at the end of the row of desks and logged on. "Is something on?"
"He's fine," Saitou said. "Just nervous about asking out a girl he's been seeing. We're giving him advice."
Hei suddenly wished that the floor would open up and swallow him; he'd known a contractor who could do that.
"Oh?" Misaki said, not looking up from the computer monitor. "I'm not sure listening to these guys about dating is a great idea, Li."
"C'mon, Chief, we give great advice!" Kouno protested.
"Where are you taking this girl?" Misaki asked. As always, her face gave nothing away.
"Um, well, there's a kite festival in Chuo park tomorrow; I was going to ask if she'd like to go."
Misaki blinked. "Chuo? That's in my neighborhood - I didn't know there was a festival tomorrow."
Hei smiled to himself; he wasn't surprised. "According to my sources, there is."
"Kites? That's actually a fun idea; I haven't flown a kite since I was a kid…"
"See, even the Chief thinks it's a good idea," Ootsuka told him with a smile. "Just call her, I'm sure she'll say yes."
"A daytime thing though?" Kouno said. "I dunno man, that's a long time to keep a chick entertained, especially if she's expecting to get dinner out of it."
"Well, I was thinking of picking her up around one; that way she has the morning to get some work done, if she wants."
"That's very considerate of you," Misaki said as she clicked through the database.
Saitou snorted. "Work? On a Saturday? Is this girl as much a workaholic as the Chief or something?"
"Li's got the right idea though," Kouno said. "Later in the day is definitely better. Hey, you should offer to pick up takeout and eat at her place when you bring her home - best way to get lucky!"
"Uh…" Hei could feel his ears burning; he definitely did not turn towards Misaki. Where was a floor-opening contractor when you needed one?
"Kouno, Li isn't crass like that!"
"Why waste a perfectly good opportunity, is all I am saying."
"Hm," Misaki said; Hei's heart skipped a beat. "I think if you really want to get lucky, you should offer to cook, instead of takeout."
"Actually, I have been wanting to cook for her again for a while now," Hei said. Maybe a hole in the floor wasn't necessary after all.
"Aw, that's so romantic!" Ootsuka sighed.
"I dunno, sets a pretty high precedent," Kouno cautioned. "Cook for her once, she's going to be expecting it every time. Make sure it's worth it."
"She's worth it," Hei said simply. A glance towards the database computer showed Misaki's cheeks turning slightly pink.
She shut off the monitor and stood. "Well, have a good time at the bar; maybe I'll join you next time. See you all on Monday." With that, she returned to her office and shut the door.
"Yeah right, like she'll ever show up," Kouno snorted.
"Eh, maybe one day. I have faith," Saitou said.
Hei's cell phone buzzed in his pocket. He took it out and glanced at the screen to see a text from Misaki.
— 1pm tomorrow is perfect
He quickly typed back:
— Should I plan on picking up supplies, or are we eating frozen fries?
"Anyway, there's nothing to worry about, Li," Ootsuka said. "Just call her; I'm sure it will be fine."
His phone buzzed twice more.
— Yes please
— Shut up
He smiled. "Yeah. I think you're right."