Maki glanced over at the lieutenant, his knuckles white around the steering wheel as he turned it to maneuver the twists and turns of the road.

She wondered what could have happened in his past to make him react the way he did to her proposition of bringing flowers to his parents' grave. She thought he'd like that idea.

But then he began acting strangely, like something — or someone — was bothering him. He nudged the car to go faster, and Maki clutched at the strap of her seat belt.

"My dad was… a very strict man," Hinawa finally spoke, his voice cracking. "I probably got most of my own personality traits from him."

Maki stayed silent as she stared out the window. This was her first time hearing of Hinawa's father from him.

"He wasn't as strict before my mom died, I mean, he wanted things a certain way, you know? But he got worse after her death. I couldn't put a toe out of line or anything. And he'd always threaten me with one thing or another. "If you don't straighten up, I'll ship you off to the convent." Or, "I'll send you straight to the military if you pull another stunt like that." And it was always for minor things.

"And I didn't even want to join the military, but if I hadn't, I'd probably ended up worse off. Can you imagine that I was actually somewhat happy when he died?"

Maki stared at her reflection in the side mirror. She watched as a tear spilled over and ran down her cheek. She swept it away and sighed.

"But did you love your dad?" she asked.

"Yeah, I mean… he was my only living relative. I'm the last of my entire family still alive. And it's lonely as hell."

I bet, Maki thought. She pulled the blanket she had brought with her up over her chest. Hinawa had not gone into great lengths about his family home, except to say it would "catch him a fair amount" when sold, and was fairly beautiful.

"I know I probably make my dad out to be the world's worst parent," Hinawa said after a while, "but he wasn't. He tried. He didn't have a lot of help raising me after my mother died."

"So he thought if he was stricter on you, then you wouldn't get into trouble?"

"Exactly."

"But you joined the military."

"It was my chosen profession. And it's also how I found out I was a second-gen."

"Really?" Maki was surprised — she'd never heard how he found out he was a second-generation before.

"Yeah, one minute I was doing target practice, and the next thing I knew I was able to manipulate the bullets."

Maki hugged her blanket closer. "How old were you then?"

"About… sixteen?"

"Dang. I was still a kid when I got my second-generation abilities."

"And how old when you were able to properly form Sputter and Flare?"

"Like twelve, I think. My mom used to use different forms of them to make my brother and I laugh when we were kids, so I guess I just… adjusted them for myself."

"I guess pyrokinetic powers really do get passed on through families," Hinawa muttered.

He cruised through the twisting roads of the town, passing the inn where they stayed a few weeks before. Maki "oohed" and "aahed" at the decorations for the holiday, twinkling brightly against the dark night sky.

"They almost look like stars!" she exclaimed.

"The stars are much prettier than these decorations. Anyways, we're almost there," he told her.

He eased the car onto a small narrow road that ran parallel to the beach. Maki stared outside the window as he drove, captivated by the smooth, black sea. The slim crescent of the moon was reflected on its surface, shimmering when waves would begin to form.

"How close are we to your house?" Maki asked him.

"We're here," he said.

He put the car in park and opened his door. He flipped through a small keyring Maki had never seen before and singled out a house key with a green cover on it. He climbed out and pulled open the back door to retrieve his bag.

"You did pack what I told you to this time, right?"

"Coat, blankets, sweatshirts," Maki said. "All in a bag."

"Okay. You'll need them because the house is always colder than normal this time of year."

"Does it not have heat?"

"Of course it has heat."

Maki looked at the lieutenant like he was insane before carefully climbing out as well. She had brought two bags — one with a week's worth of clothes, and another with their coats, extra thick blankets, and warm sweatshirts, just like he had asked.

"Come on, I'll have to shine a light for us to get inside." Hinawa was waiting for her at the front of the car.

Maki walked around and met him, and he took the second bag from her before leading the way up an aged gravel-and-sand pathway. Anxious to not be left in the dark, Maki followed, the night turning cold.

Hinawa inserted his key into the lock on a door. "You'll have a better view of the outside in the daytime," he assured her. "But the electricity and everything still works."

"So you don't even need to live at the cathedral?" she asked.

"No, but this place is too far away. So I just don't use it."

He opened the door wide and fumbled for the light switch. As the room was filled with light, Maki gasped — it really was a beautiful living room.

"Who decorated?" she asked.

"My mom."

"The couch is so beautiful," Maki said. "Who put the plastic over it?"

"I did after my dad died."

"This rocking chair is beautiful, what type of wood is it?"

"Oak. My mom rocked me to sleep in that chair almost every night."

"Even when you got older?"

Hinawa nodded. "I never got tired of it."

"Maybe you should keep it since it's obviously where you and your mom bonded the most."

"We bonded the most in the kitchen, she had me help her cook."

"Ohhh, so that's how you started cooking."

Hinawa scoffed. "There are four bedrooms, but the master bedroom is mine."

"And the bathroom?" Maki asked.

"Down the hall, second door on the left. If you see a bunch of coats and sheets you went one door too far."

Maki set her bag down on the floor and walked down the hall. She counted doors as she went.

"One, two…" she whispered. She pushed the door open and locked it behind her before turning on the light.

Maki gasped at the expanse of the bathroom before her. Her urgency to pee was forgotten in the large bathtub.

I can sit down in that tub easily! she thought. She slid back the glass shower doors and marveled at the marble walling inside the full shower.

"I'm taking a bath in here tonight," she muttered.

She looked around and found the toilet nestled in a small, hidden portion of the bathroom. She did her business and hurried to leave, only finding confusion at the different soaps on the counter. She picked up a pale pink square and sniffed it.

"The pink soaps are rose, the purple ones are lavender, and the green ones are some ungodly scent that I wouldn't recommend using," the lieutenant's voice called from outside the door.

Maki dropped the soap she was holding into the sink. "How long have you been out there?"

"Not long, I figured you were playing with those stupid fancy soaps."

Maki huffed. She looked around and found some plain white soap on the side of the sink. She washed her hands and dried them on the towel that was hanging beside the sink. She unlocked the door and opened it to see Hinawa leaning against the wall beside the bathroom door.

"I wasn't playing with the soaps," she told him. "I just didn't know where the regular soap was."

"But I assume you found it?"

"Yes."

"I set your bag in the room right across the hall," he told her, pointing. Maki walked into the room and saw her bag on a fluffy queen-sized bed, with clean sheets and towels folded at the end.

"You really know how to make guests feel welcome," she joked.

"I removed the plastic furniture protector for you from the bed," Hinawa said.

"Thanks," Maki said. She moved the towels and her bag over and set to work on making the bed.

Hinawa left her and walked into what used to be his parents' room. He had already removed the plastic furniture protector from the bed there as well, and his towels were waiting for him in the bathroom. He remade their bed with the same yellow sheets his parents always used; according to his mom, it was so the room would look a little brighter in contrast to the gloomy gray painted on the walls. He could hear Maki's giggles coming from the room down the hall — he had given her a spare bedroom, as his old one was locked to everyone except himself.

He walked out of the bedroom and into the hall and saw Maki tiptoeing into the bathroom with her towels.

"I'm just setting them in there," she said.

"Uh-huh."

He walked into the bathroom and opened the doors under the sink. He pulled out a collection of bath soaps and fizzers in various scents.

"In case you want to take a bath."

Maki picked up a honey and vanilla-scented bath soap. She found a matching bath fizzer and grinned.

"I'll leave you alone, then," he said.

Maki waited until he left before locking the door behind him. She removed her clothes and began running hot water in the huge tub.

"This thing is going to take forever to fill," she moaned.

Hinawa, who had returned to his parents' room, had had a similar idea — he was ready to take a hot shower and go to sleep. He stripped his clothes off in the room and walked into the bathroom, the shower already hot and ready. He set his glasses on the sink and stepped in.

"Holy shit," he said.

The water from the showerhead hit a particularly sore muscle in his back — he knew the bathtub was probably the better option for relieving his muscle aches, as it had jacuzzi jets, but he wanted just a quick shower.

He squirted some shampoo into his hand and rubbed it over his head. He set in on washing his body as the shampoo rinsed off.

Maki dropped the bath fizzer in the tub — which had finally filled up — and stepped in. She could hear running water from the other side of the wall, which probably meant that the lieutenant was taking a shower or bath as well.

She sank to her shoulders in the water, the gold-colored foam covering her up. She sat against the wall of the bathtub and sighed quietly.

She had yet to find a fault in the lieutenant's childhood home.

She reached over and picked up the small bar of honey-and-vanilla soap that she had grabbed. The scent was gentle and sweet, and she could make out hints of sugar and citrus.

Maki unwrapped the bar and dipped it in the water. She began gently washing off Christmas Day — the events of the party, Lieutenant Hinawa gently touching her cheek, them sharing coffees over an intensely personal Christmas cake.

"Oh no!"

Maki felt the soap slide out of her fingers as she lingered a bit too long on her thoughts of her and the lieutenant. She had pulled up her hair before her bath and didn't want to get it wet by going deep-sea fishing for her soap.

She felt around with her toes for the small square. She could still hear the running water on the other side of the wall; she couldn't help but think about the lieutenant in the shower and them just separated by a wall.

"Found it," she muttered, pinning it down with her foot. She dragged it toward her, reaching for it when she got close. She picked it up and set it on the side of the bathtub.

"I'll put this here for now," she muttered.

She leaned back and relaxed under the foam. She could feel the warm water seeping its way into her muscles, soothing them. She heard the water on the other side of the wall shut off as the lieutenant finished his shower. Her thoughts strayed back to a few weeks before, when she saw him in all his nearly-naked glory. Thoughts of that incident consumed her every waking moment.

She didn't trust herself around him alone anymore.

"Hmm, I'll finish my bath soon as well," she said to no one out loud, hoping it would break her from her thoughts.

Hinawa strained his ears as he listened out for Maki. He had heard her cry out as she dropped her bar of soap in the large bathtub. His towels lay strewn across the floor, absorbing water that had rolled off of him when he stepped out of the shower.

He considered just climbing into bed naked when he remembered his frazzled female friend in the bathroom next door. He put on his underwear and pajama pants and opened the bedroom door. He began putting on his white t-shirt on as he walked into the hall. He paused outside the bathroom and sighed before gently tapped on the door.

"Maki?"

Maki sat up in the tub. She had closed her eyes, dreaming of the ocean outside. "Lieutenant!"

He heard something fall and tried the doorknob. "Are you okay?"

She looked over at the door, thankful she had locked it. She stared at the stupid bar of soap she had sent flying across the bathroom. "Uhh… kind of?"

"What happened?"

"I knocked my bar of soap off the side of the bathtub."

"Doing what?"

"Waking up."

Hinawa chuckled. He left her alone in the bathroom and continued on to the small library that was just off the living room. He walked inside and sat down in a large cushy chair, and picked up the dusty book that was on the table beside it. He flipped to the beginning and began to read.

Maki grumbled as she stepped out of the bathtub. She toweled her body off and moaned when she realized she left her pajamas in her room. She stuck her head out of the bathroom.

"Lieutenant?" she called.

"Yes?" he called back, closing his book, his thumb as his bookmarker.

"Where are you?"

"In the library."

Maki sighed in relief. She opened the door wider and made a mad dash across the hall and shut the bedroom door behind her.

She leaned against the door and sighed. How could she have forgotten her clothes? She dug out her shorts and an old, oversized sweatshirt. She didn't want to be lost on comfort while she stayed with the lieutenant.

She opened her bedroom door and walked quietly down the hall. The lieutenant said he was in the library? Where is that?

As if on cue, Hinawa leaned his head out of the library, causing Maki to jump.

"Why did you want to know where I was?" he asked her.

"I had forgotten my clothes, so I, uh… had to run naked into the room," she told him.

Hinawa took in the clothes she had on. Her lean, toned legs were on full display, and it took all of his willpower to not stare at them. He walked back to the chair he was sitting in, with a curious Maki in tow.

"This is an impressive collection of books," she said.

"Most were my mom's, some were my dad's."

Maki ran a finger over the dusty tomes and wiped it on her sweatshirt. She picked up a random book off of the table beside Hinawa and sat down at his feet and began reading.

"I remember reading this book in my private lessons," she said as she turned away from the title page.

Hinawa sighed. "You don't have to be everywhere I am, Maki," he said.

Maki looked away from him, her face turning pink from embarrassment. He was right, but he was her only guide to this godforsaken place. He only told her where places were when she needed to know about them.

"I'm going to bed," Maki mumbled.

"Good night," Hinawa said from over the top of his book.

"Night."

a/n: and with this, I've caught up to ao3 on this fic. I'm doing edits on ch. 10 right now, I've just had a lot of stuff going on in my life since the fic was last updated both here and on ao3 (one major thing was I had covid in aug./sept.)

I'm feeling better, tho, so hopefully I can update with ch. 10 soon.