Story 19 / Collection 1: We shouldn't be doing this
Rules don't apply here.
They had been stuck here, in their hideout in the deep waters, for quite a while now, and the inertia was beginning to feel suffocating.
Arnold did not know what they were doing or whose idea it was until after they got onto the ship—they were only told the Archangel was needed urgently and discreetly—but kidnapping the representative of Orb on her wedding day was indeed one of the most ridiculous things the Archangel crew has done so far, and that was counting from an already rather long list.
He felt sorry for Natarle; her dignity took a bit of a hit when she finally realised what she was taking part in. They decided to respond to Murrue's plea because they trusted her, and ever since Natarle chose to leave her homeland behind and join them in Orb, she had been working very hard to change her way of thinking, be less by-the-book and more adaptable. Even so, operating a rogue ship they essentially stole from the Earth Alliance with no authority from their current governing body to abduct the head of the country was probably too big of an ask from her.
And to stay here with no next course of action, waiting incessantly—for what, no one knew—was really sending her to her wits end.
Arnold knew she was trying her best to normalise their current situation and adjust herself to it, but staying put and doing nothing was not her strong suit, and he started noticing some small slip ups here and there, every now and then.
Like how she forgot to set her alarm once, and she would have been late for her shift if he did not wake her up.
Like how she did their laundry twice, and she was not even aware the second time that the set of uniforms she dumped into the wash were actually clean.
Like how she thoughtlessly added three spoons of sugar into her coffee—as opposed to her usual two—and ended with a drink that was too sugary, even by her standards as someone with a sweet tooth.
Arnold did not dare tell her, but he was secretly thankful for their 'unfortunate' circumstances that let him see this rare side of her.
Right now, she was killing her time here in the bridge even though it was not her shift, and he could tell although she was physically present, standing next to his seat at the helm, her mind was elsewhere, completely ignoring the idle chatter between Murrue, Mwu, and Waltfeld.
"Neumann," Chandra suddenly called out to him, pointing to his screen. "Can you come here for a second?"
Arnold got up from his seat, and gave Natarle a small smile when he noticed her snapping out of her trance to look at him, before he made his way to Chandra.
He was going through some data Chandra was showing him when the door opened behind him, and in a split second he registered three things happening all at once: the loud mechanical cry of "Haro!", Natarle's panicked voice yelling his name "Arnold!", and a pink blob coming at him at a frightening speed.
He and Chandra reacted simultaneously, but it was Chandra who caught the pink robot before it hit Arnold's raised hand.
"Oh my," Lacus spoke apologetically as she entered the bridge, "I'm so sorry, Mr. Neumann. Mr. Pink, what's gotten to you? You should behave."
Haro started saying an apology, but no one was paying attention to it; all eyes were on Natarle.
"Natarle," Murrue started, sounding a little surprised.
Mwu continued for her in an amused tone, "Did you just call Neumann by his name?"
Realising what she just said, Natarle's face turned to the same shade as Mr. Pink itself. Her blunder was one thing, but the fact that the whole bridge was now aware of it just made it all the more embarrassing for her.
Arnold thought about saying something, but held back only because he knew it would make it worse; Natarle for sure did not want to draw more attention to this.
"My apologies, Captain." Natarle straightened herself and adopted an all-business tone, clearly wanting to put this to an end. "I assure you it won't happen again."
Murrue waved her hand gently to indicate her stance. "It's alright, I don't mind. You can call him whatever you want."
Natarle could have let it go there and then and the issue would have died an immediate death, but her second nature got the better of her. "That's not acceptable. It would be problematic for maintaining discipline on the ship."
"I do it all the time," Murrue said in a sweet, casual manner, and then added as an afterthought, "I probably call you by your name more than by your rank."
"Captain, just because you do it doesn't mean it should be treated as the norm."
"But you let me."
"I have conceded that I won't be able to make you change that."
"You have?" Murrue asked with a gleefulness that made Natarle flinch with regret—especially when they all saw the mischievous smile rising up Murrue's face as she stole a quick glance at Arnold, clearly up to something. "Is that preferential treatment just for me? No one else? Not even Neumann?"
"Captain!" Not one, but two alarmed voices—perfectly in sync—were heard.
The first came from Natarle, her face redder than it already was, and the other from Arnold, exasperated at what Murrue had just insinuated.
He and Natarle had been keeping their relationship under the radar, and just a scant number of people knew; amongst those inside this room right now, only Murrue, Mwu, and Chandra were aware. But if they were hoping the rest of the present crew had missed it the first time around, they definitely would have caught up by now. And if the crew in this room knew, he would give it two days till it became common knowledge to the rest of the ship.
Natarle took a step back, sending her captain a harsh glare—though its impact severely diminished by the redness of her face—and shouted, "It's not preferential treatment! You're just unmanageable!"
With that, she left the bridge, avoiding Arnold's stare along the way.
Arnold turned to Murrue with a frown. Well, the cat was out of the bag now, but he could at least try to do some damage control. "Captain, can you please not tease her like that."
Murrue grinned sheepishly, though it was clear she was unrepentant; the captain of the Archangel sure had her devilish side. "Sorry, it was too good of an opportunity to let pass. She's cute when she gets flustered."
"Of course I know that," Arnold replied nonchalantly—everyone stared at him as though he had no shame.
"I think you'll thank Murrue later," Mwu jumped in with a knowing smirk.
"Yes, I understand that too," Arnold replied with a sigh. Things would be so much easier if they did not have to worry about people finding out about them, though that was if he resolved the problem at hand first. "But unless you're fine with not seeing both of us in the same shift ever again, you'll have to let me go and check on her now."
"Ahhh," she stuck out her tongue playfully. "Yes, please go ahead, Neumann."
As Arnold was leaving the bridge, he heard Lacus chastising the culprit.
"Mr. Pink, look at the trouble you caused."
o-o-o
When Arnold got back to Natarle's room, he found her sitting at her desk, still sulking from the commotion.
She tried to ignore Arnold when he pulled up a chair and sat down next to her.
"Natarle," he called her name with caution in his tone, "are you mad at me too?"
She turned to face him instantly, all the anger she held replaced with an urgency to explain herself. "I'm not mad at you! You didn't do anything wrong! It's just- I'm mad at myself for making such a rookie mistake, but the captain-"
She stopped mid-sentence, a little lost for the right words to convey herself, but Arnold already knew what she was thinking; she wanted to fault Murrue for making fun of her, but at the same time she did not want to say anything that sounded like she was criticising her captain, or worse, blaming the woman for her own mistakes.
Arnold reached for her hand—held in a fist on her knee—and wrapped his palm lightly around it. "Natarle, you don't need to be so hard on yourself. We're not in a normal situation anyway, and this is not a normal military operation. I think we can afford to be a bit more relaxed."
She stubbornly refused to agree to him, so he moved himself closer to her, and quietly suggested, "Rules are meant to be broken."
"No they're not!" She glared at him like he had just committed an act of betrayal.
A small laugh escaped him before he could hold it back; when it came to pranking Natarle for her delightful reactions, he and Murrue were not that different after all.
He slid his fingers into her grasp, unlocking her tight hold and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "Then what are you going to do about us? Us, together on this ship, me reporting to you in the day, sharing your bed at night. I'm sure there are some rules that say something about this, and we don't really have an excuse this time."
Upon hearing his words, she instinctively wanted to pull her hand away, only he had anticipated this already and kept his hold firm. Mwu was right—he must have thought about it too because of his relationship with Murrue—they were essentially in willful violation of fraternisation rules if anyone were to hold them accountable. They had not considered this far ahead when they boarded the ship, but sooner or later Natarle was going to realise it, and either way she would be caught in the same dilemma again. It was not anyone's fault; this was just how things happened to be, and he wanted her not to always be backing herself into a corner.
He looked straight at her, demanding her full attention as he asked rhetorically, "Well, there's not much we can do about it, unless we find a way for either one of us to leave the ship in the very short term?"
She was still pouting, but shifted her gaze away in slight abashment, acknowledging defeat. He leaned in and planted a kiss on her cheek.
"On the bright side of things, at least we won't have to be sneaking around like last time."
Side story: The sphere of doom
Arnold was walking down the hallway alone when he spotted Lacus coming towards his direction from ahead. What was more important, he noticed the pink robot was with her.
That damned robot had attacked him twice now, and it felt increasingly like it held a personal grudge towards him.
The first time, thanks to Natarle's warning, Chandra blocked its path before it hit him. The second time, Arnold had caught it coming in the corner of his eye and managed to swerve in time to avoid getting hit. This time, the robot would be attacking head on, and Arnold would see it coming.
As expected, Arnold watched the pink sphere position itself, and with a war cry "Haro!", it launched itself at him at full speed, only to get caught in Arnold's hand.
Lacus rushed towards Arnold, offering an apology for her robot's misbehaviour.
Arnold could no longer tolerate this; this pink menace was a threat to his personal safety, inside a warship where he should be safe nonetheless. Handing over the metal ball, he asked, "Miss Lacus, this is the third time your robot attacked me. Is there something wrong with it?"
The robot's owner looked apologetic. "That's strange, Mr. Pink is only like that when he sees you. I haven't seen him do this to anyone else." She then turned to her mechanical companion, "Mr. Pink, why do you attack Mr. Neumann?"
The pink ball flapped its ears and responded, "Play with me! Play with me! Like last time!"
Lacus turned at Arnold curiously. "Mr. Neumann, why would Mr. Pink say that?"
"I have no clue." Play? Like last time? Arnold searched his memory but could not find anything that seemed like the right answer. "The only other time I've interacted with it was when I brought it back to you the last time I found it lying around."
"Hope you don't mind me asking, what did you do with him?"
"It was rolling in the middle of the road and seemed like it was low on battery, and all I did was pick it up and bring it to you."
"Hmm…" Lacus made a sound to indicate that even she had trouble understanding her robot's behaviour. "But something must have happened to make him think this way…"
And then Arnold remembered.
He cleared his throat lightly. "…I might have thrown it up in the air a few times…"
"That must be it!" Lacus clapped her hands together. "Mr. Pink must have thought you were playing with him! Like playing catch!"
"That was playing with it? Is it a dog? Or is it the ball the dog fetches? And why does its idea of playing seem more like a murderous intent!"
"Maybe it's got a baseball setting?"
[Prompt title 13: 反則 / Breaking the rules]