I'd like to take a minute, so sit right there, while I thank the people who've been continually leaving reviews rather than just giving a generic shout out like I always do.

Ern Estine 12624, AnonymousIDK, Evilneko101, and loserbooknerd: Thank you guys so much for sticking with this series of mostly super mushy, sometimes angsty, short stories. Thanks to everyone else too of course, even the people who aren't leaving reviews. I obsessively watch my story stats so I know there's a lot more of you out there.

This story is about the soulless grind of office work. :) I took inspiration from The Sorrows of Okumura Yukio: The Salaryman Exorcist. Ya'll should check it out if you didn't know of it's existence.

Lunch Break

Ryuuji leaned back in his chair, massaging his temples, and then glanced up at the clock. It was almost lunch time. That meant he would soon get a short break, and then it was back to work for at least another four hours, if he didn't get roped in to pulling anymore overtime.

He looked back down at his desk, everything neatly in its place: pencils, pens, and other office supplies to one side; photos on the other: one of his parents, and one of him and Rin from their wedding, with a smaller picture of all the Exwires from back in high school tucked in the corner of the frame. The pile of paperwork in his IN box was significantly bigger than the pile in his OUT box—overtime looking more and more likely—and his current project sat smack dab in the center of his desk, right in front of him—the source of his current headache.

Dear god, he felt almost guilty. He had no idea how much trouble they had probably caused everyone when they were younger. Oh, he had some idea—they had caused a lot of trouble—but he'd never quite grasped the full extent.

The assignment in question was the mission debriefing and all related paperwork concerning the recent training mission for the latest batch of Exwires. One of the tamers had lost control of their familiars and the building had been set on fire and had to be evacuated. Senior exorcists had to be called in to subdue what was otherwise supposed to be a routine cleanup job, and one of the students had been injured, though not seriously.

Pretty tame from what Ryuuji remembered of his Exwire days.

Except now he had to draft a formal apology letter to the client and the owners of the building, field phone calls from angry parents, and deal with a mountain of insurance forms. This was not what he signed up for at all when he first decided to become an exorcist and join the True Cross Order.

Is this what Yukio had to deal with on top of teaching them and going to school himself? Damn it, he was almost envious of Rin for still being lower first class. At least he was still primarily doing fieldwork.

Ryuuji still did field work too of course, but it was mainly overseeing lower class exorcists unless a higher ranked demon needed exorcising, and it was starting to feel almost like more paperwork than actual work. The higher rank paid better and less fieldwork meant less chances of getting hurt, but god damn it was boring and it was far from glamorous, not that glamour was something he was after, but... Ryuuji sighed. Sometimes his old goals of defeating Satan and restoring his temple to its former glory felt impossibly far away, even if ass kissing and rank climbing was one of the better ways of achieving it. It opened more doors for him, and it's not like they'd ever take lower ranked exorcist on a mission to fight Satan if they ever got around to it—Rin being the obvious exception.

Ryuuji sighed and looked back up at the clock. Almost lunch time, almost lunch time…

Okay, where the hell was Rin? They always ate lunch together—not to mention Ryuuji didn't even normally have his food until Rin brought it to him because he left for work earlier than the other man—and now it was lunchtime and Rin was late.

Ryuuji had to resist the urge to fidget, and wondered if he should maybe try to rush through another insurance form before the other man arrived when Rin finally rounded the corner, his eyes lighting up as he spotted Ryuuji.

"You're late," Ryuuji said.

"Good to see you too." Rin ignored his husband's grumpiness in favor of kissing him on the nose and enjoying the way his cheeks colored. He pulled up a spare chair and sat down at Ryuuji's desk. "I had to give Yukio his lunch first and he wasn't at his desk so I had to ask around a bit."

"You still make Yukio's lunch?" Ryuuji asked, his brow furrowing. "How long have you been doing that?"

Rin looked confused for a second, pausing as he unpacked the lunches—two bento boxes wrapped in neat little kerchiefs. "I thought you knew I did that. I've been doing it since high school…"

"Seriously? I mean, I knew you did it back then, but I had no idea you were still doing it. Are we paying for that?"

"No," Rin said rolling his eyes, "He slips me some money every other week to cover it, like a car pool, except for food."

Ryuuji stared at Rin, trying to determine if he was joking or not, and then shook his head. "That guy needs to get his own wife," he grumbled under his breath.

"The hell'd you just say?" Rin asked, jabbing his chopsticks at Ryuuji, "Because it sounded like you said you don't want me to keep making your lunches."

"That's not-" Ryuuji sputtered, "I didn't mean to imply…"

"You'd better damn well not. Besides, you're the one that does all the cleaning and the nagging."

Ryuuji shot him a glare, but snapped his mouth shut, not wanting to prove Rin right and simply let the argument die instead. He ducked his head and reached for his lunch, popping the small box open to make himself look busy, only to pause and stare at it, a deep blush rising on his cheeks.

Hearts. Big pink hearts everywhere.

As much as Rin was able, the lunch was heart themed. The rice was pink—maybe he'd dyed it somehow? Maybe pink rice was a thing? Ryuuji had no idea—and he'd made heart shaped rice balls, and all the side food—carrots, cherry tomatoes, and strawberries—had been sliced on the angle and assembled with tooth picks to form hearts as well.

He glanced up at Rin to find the other man staring at him, his arms folded over his chest.

"You got something you wanna' say?" Rin asked, one eyebrow raised as if challenging Ryuuji to just go ahead and dare make a comment like the last one.

Ryuuji glanced down at Rin's lunch—completely normal looking—and then back up at Rin. It was impressive in and of itself that Rin could serve him food like that with a straight face, but Ryuuji held his tongue. He knew better than to bite the hand that fed him.

"Thanks for the food," he mumbled instead as he started to eat.

Rin flashed a grin at him, wagging his tail and causing a few onlookers to stare.

No matter how long Rin worked for the True Cross Order it seemed as if there would always be people uncomfortable with his presence. Some people had even made a few choice comments to Ryuuji about it, as if they were too scared to speak to Rin directly, though Ryuuji always tried to correct them politely. He didn't think they deserved the politeness, but this was a professional work place and freaking out at people wouldn't help Rin's reputation any.

Ryuuji sighed through his nose as he ate.

"Whatcha' thinking about?"

"Uh, nothing," Ryuuji lied. It was nothing Rin needed to hear anyway.

Instead of questioning him further, Rin reached over and speared one of Ryuuji's strawberries with his chopsticks, and then held it up for him to eat. Ryuuji leaned back, narrowing his eyes.

"Not at work," he said, his eyes darting about, knowing they already had an audience.

Rin's smile only grew as he leaned forward, holding the chopsticks closer, so Ryuuji snatched them from his hand, eating the food himself before Rin could press the issue further.

"Aw, you know you love it."

Ryuuji snorted, but didn't deny it. He hated the attention that Rin brought him, but he'd never give it up. As far as he was concerned Rin didn't owe these people anything.

He grabbed one of the pink rice balls, holding it up and staring at it, admiring the effort that had gone in to shaping it. Even if it was easy, it was an extra unnecessary step that had been taken just for him.

"I was just thinking…" he trailed off, staring at Rin as the half demon looked up at him mid-chew.

"I was just thinking that I'm the luckiest guy in this office," Ryuuji finished, trying to fight down the embarrassment he felt at saying something so openly cheesy.

But the smile that spread across Rin's face—not one of his cheeky, teasing grins, but an honest, eager, heartfelt smile that grew up right out of the core of his being—made it worth it. It would always be worth it.