LOG: Byodoin and Sanada

[byodoin]

Who: Sanada and Byodoin
When: Shortly after the worst of the chaos in MedBay is repaired
Where: the lounge
What: Byodoin treats Sanada to some drinks... and strips.





Sanada spotted Byodoin as he entered the lounge and gave his wrist a quick flick to check the time and saw that he was early and not late and gave a mental sigh of relief. Even if Byodoin and himself had been building up a friendly rapport and had drunk together a couple times now, it wouldn’t do to leave a superior officer waiting.

“Sir. I hope you weren’t waiting long,” Sanada said as he walked up to Byodoin. He remembered Byodoin mentioning something about a vacation so it was possible he had just been here enjoying himself. Still, better to be polite, especially since Byodoin was treating him, once again, to a drink.

Byodoin nodded to Sanada, not displeased that the other man was able to join him. He held up a bottle of alcohol- sake this time- and a small glass.

"I take it the paperwork kept you busy for awhile? From the sound of things the brat left quite a mess for you all." He offered up as greeting, gesturing for Sanada to sit.

Sanada grinned at the sake and then immediately groaned as he sat down at the small table with him. “I don’t want to think about paperwork or engineering for at least 12 hours, sir.” He might even take his next shift off if there was nothing flagged as urgent or that he specifically had to do or sign off on. He’d certainly clocked in the hours over the past few days. “At least there was no major structural damage... and we were able to take advantage of the situation to reinforce and modify the door designs.” He just tried to think of it as getting a future upgrade done early but it really didn’t help much when he thought about what it looked like when he had shown up at the medbay.

Byodoin nodded his head, fully understanding what Sanada meant about not wanting to think about work, because for the next two weeks the most annoying part of his job wasn't his problem and he wanted to enjoy it, damn it.

He started pouring cups of sake for the two of them. "This is a good time to relax and think about other things, then. Less chaotic things."

“And what do you consider less chaotic, sir?” Sanada asked. Considering how the base ran, he felt chaos was a normal part of many people’s lives here. He did his best to avoid it but as engineering, it was often their group that had to clean up after the chaos.

And as Security he got to witness all the chaos... often caused by his own subordinate. It was stressful, to say the least. Maybe he should get in for a massage during his vacation, that might help.

"I'd suggest thinking about things that are always the same. Like family." His family were weird hippies, but they were reliably weird hippies, after all. And it wasn't like he disliked them that much just because they'd name him fucking Houou. "Do you have a family, Sanada? Other than Yanagi?"

“Of course. I didn’t spring up out of a peach,” Sanada said. Though he wasn’t sure thinking about his family was exactly less chaotic. There was a reason he didn’t put up more of a protest when Yanagi suggested fleeing across the universe to some dubious outpost to set up a new colony. “Before I moved here, I lived with my parents, my older brother, sister-in-law, and their small army of children.” He would not be surprised if in one future message from his family that the army had grown again. They kept swearing they were done with kids but Sanada didn’t exactly trust their track record.

Byodoin laughed. "Kids, huh? My little sister hasn't had any of those yet... though I suppose it's a matter of time. I'm pissing her off being here because it means I'm going to miss her wedding in the spring."

Yeah, this subject wasn't really making him feel too much better either.

"You know what, this isn't really working. Maybe we should just compare what we do to calm ourselves, and leave family out of it." Byodoin suggested, sipping his sake. "I meditate."

Sanada couldn’t agree more with changing the subject so kept his sympathies over missing the wedding to himself and gave a nod instead. “I also meditate. Every morning,” Sanada said. He took up his own sake cup and gave Byodoin a silent toast before sipping his own. It warmed his throat going down but didn’t burn like some other western alcohols did. He gave a pleased sigh and took another sip. Definitely a nice and smooth sake choice.

Byodoin had suspected that Sanada might have similar hobbies to him. They seemed to have a lot in common.

"I also enjoy activities like tea ceremony and calligraphy. Those are the kinds of activities that the morale officer should be planning over movie nights and trading cards, if you ask me." Choutarou was a nice kid, but he had no idea what kinds of activities real men enjoyed.

“Both excellent activities and much better to centering and bettering yourself than dubious cards and bland movies,” Sanada said. “Though I suppose it’s what we should expect considering our current morale officer.” Sanada remained thoroughly unimpressed with the base’s morale officer and still felt he was horribly underqualified, or at least incompetent at his role.

Byodoin refilled Sanada's cup, eyebrow raised. He just thought of Choutarou as a child, but... yeah, he probably wasn't the best at his job because of it.

"We should plan our own events then. The younger kids would benefit from calligraphy practice." Kin was off on a mission, but Kirihara was still here. And Weirdo was still practically a child too. Not to mention there was that twelve year old welder or whatever. Kids. Kids needed structure.

“I’m already trying to teach Kirihara homophones. If I force more writing on him, he might riot…” Sanada said with a sigh. He found calligraphy a fun challenge and also a time for peaceful reflection but he doubted that Kirihara would see it as anything beyond punishment. “And I’m not sure I trust all the younger ones together with free flowing ink.” He could already picture the mess. He took a sip of his sake to try to wipe the image from his mind.

Byodoin laughed and refilled their drinks again. Tonight's goal was to be too drunk to care about messes.

"Okay, true. Maybe we should just practice calligraphy alone. I wonder if the safety consultant would like a wall scroll for his room. Not entirely his aesthetic, but he seems like he'd appreciate the artistry of it..." Yup, Byodoin was getting tipsy enough to talk about his current... attempt at conquest? Crush?

“We could practice together at least. And the safety consultant? Mizuki?” He had just recently trained the man for his expedition. He seemed okay. Definitely needed to work out and put on some muscles but quick to learn and pick up everything they needed for the tech to work. “Perhaps you could do a blend of words and pictures.” Adding fish, bamboo, or flowers to a scroll wasn’t that difficult as they used most of the same style strokes just in a different pattern.

"That's a good idea. I'll have to keep it in mind." Byodoin could manage flowers, thanks to the art lesson that his parents had made him take as a child. "And there's no faster way to a man's heart than through gifts, so it's worth a try."

Byodoin down his cup, before looking to Sanada. "What about you? Anyone you have your eye on?"

Sanada nodded and then took a sip of his sake that he nearly choked on as Byodoin asked if he liked anyone. “What? Me? No. Definitely not,” Sanada said. He could feel his cheeks heating up and hoped that it could be blamed on the alcohol or nearly choking.

Byodoin raised an eyebrow. "So you do, huh? I have to wonder who managed to catch your eye... must be a pretty impressive person!"

Well, it wasn't as if Sanada couldn’t get pretty much anyone he wanted on the base. The man's abs were legendary. Though the man himself... could be a bit slow, come to think of it.

"Just ask me if you need any advice. I'm a veteran at this kind of stuff." He offered, since he figured maybe Sanada could use the help.

“They’re very impressive!” Sanada couldn’t help but agree and then cursed himself for confirming that he did in fact have what could maybe be called a slight crush on someone. “And I’m sure things will be fine. Thank you for the offer anyway, sir.” He wasn’t sure what kind of advice on romance Byodoin could give but he had Yanagi and he felt that was good enough. Besides, he’d been on dates. It wasn’t like he was completely hopeless.

"I'm sure they will be fine. You're one of the most popular men on base, after all!" Byodoin agreed easily enough. He wasn't dead set on meddling in Sanada's love life, after all. The man was an adult, presumably he could handle himself.

He refilled their cups and thought for a moment before bringing up a new topic. "So, excited for the baths?"

“I’m that popular?” Sanada asked. He felt he got along well with those in engineering and was tried to be cordial to those he encountered but some vocal people seemed to think that he lacked social skills. Not that he should care about what people like Ohtori thought. “And very excited. Niou and I have already pulled out some designs to compare with the materials we have on hand and what modifications we want to make.” He was certainly more excited than Niou was about the project but it was enough of a change of repairing treadmills and patching walls that he thought Niou was still happy to be working on it.

Byodoin nodded his head. "Very popular. And I'm looking forward to being able to soak as well... just let me know if you need any additional manpower getting things done. I'm willing to contribute if it means getting a bath sooner."

He liked physical labor anyhow. It helped keep him in peak condition.

“Oh. Good… maybe that explains the number of people signing up for swimming lessons,” Sanada said mostly to himself as he finished off another cup of sake. He wondered how many that had been? It was hard to keep count when Byodoin was very swift at refilling them. “And being able to soak after work or at the end of the day will be nice. I’ll let you know if we need help. As long as there aren’t any other engineering emergencies, we should be okay.” They may be missing their head engineer but compared to most departments on base, they actually had nearly all the personnel they needed. Perhaps a few more specializations would be appreciated, but they were able to staff engineering 24 hours a day and take breaks… at least these days… if there were no emergencies.

Byodoin lifted his cup in a cheer. "To no emergencies! Engineering seems to be stuck cleaning up after people a lot." Byodoin sipped his drink. "I'd have lost my patience being stuck with that job ages ago. You're an impressive man, Sanada."

Sanada gladly lifted his cup to cheer for that. Whenever he thought they had a lull in engineering, something always seemed to pop up to make them work overtime. “Normally there’s enough variation in the day to keep things interesting. Though I think everyone is sick of fixing treadmills,” Sanada said with a laugh. “I’m sure security has its troubles, too. I remember how many drunk and arrogant idiots I had to deal with when I was doing security back on Earth.” He enjoyed a lot of his time in that job but there were certan parts he was glad to say goodbye to.

"Luckily the only one with enough booze to be drunk regularly seems to be me!" Laughed Byodoin, pleased with the fortunate lack of drunks to make his shifts tiring. "There were a couple dinguses from science who purposely ate worm meat to get high once, though... they were certainly high."

Not the funnest type of nuisance to deal with, but in retrospect it had a bit of humor to it.

“Really? I thought we all agreed to stop trying to figure out if any parts of the worm were edible…” Sanada said. Though maybe they were purposefully trying to get high. Some people had strange ideas of fun. “And you certainly do seem to be well stocked. I bet more people will start having more things now that the base is up and running and we have more room to store supplies.” He was hoping that the next few supply shuttles would have a good amount of building materials along with a supply of proper tea from his family.

"Well to be fair, there isn't too much left after this... though there will probably be more in the next drop." His friends could be counted on to look out for him, after all. He might be wasting away in the middle of nowhere watching Kin, but at least he could be drunk while doing so?

He refilled their drinks.

"To friendship!" He raised his cup. "You're a lucky man to have a good friend here with you. I miss my old team something awful. Even wimpy Tokugawa." He chortled over how wimpy Tokugawa was. Not that Sanada probably had any idea who he was.

“To friendship,” Sanada said raising his cup to that and drinking some more. “I’m very lucky to have Renji with me. A good friend and family. And with his job, I know he always has my back, too.” Sanada didn’t know if Yanagi was still at work but he waved toward one of the lounge cameras just in case he was and happened to be watching. Even he didn’t know how Yanagi always seemed to know everything at all times but he figured cameras played a big part.

Byodoin waved at the cameras too, just assuming Renji was watching because he was always watching. "He's a reliable guy, that Yanagi. He's pretty much doing my job while I'm taking the week off."

Well, he pretty much did Byodoin’s job even when Byodoin was working. Nobody was better at watching the camera feed than Renji.

"It's good to know he's always watching." Was it though? Was it?

“It is. He’s the best,” Sanada said and smiled as he thought about just how much Yanagi had done for him while he was busy fixing the medbay. Maybe he wouldn’t try to drag him to the gym for the next week or so to show his appreciation. “Do you have someone like Renji? Maybe you can convince them to take a contract here.” Now that the sandworms weren’t as much as a problem, it had to be slightly easier to convince people to come, right?

Byodoin seemed pleased to have the chance to talk about his friends. After all, he had friends!

"I'd say the one I'm closest to is my friend Duke... Saved his sister's life once. He's been my best friend ever since." Because that was just how you made friends, clearly. Heroic acts. "...That was how I got the scar on my back too. I saved his sister from a collapsing building, you see."

“That’s amazing,” Sanada said. He knew that Byodoin was a certified military hero but to hear any bit of those stories was pretty cool. And to save your friend’s sister from a collapsing building? That was just the stuff of movies. “Were you friends before that or is that how you met?” Either way, it was cool.

"It's how we met... he transferred to my squad the very next day. And we were inseparable until this assignment. I'll admit, I keep hoping he'll show up here too." Byodoin confessed, all the while setting down his cup and sliding off his shirt and undershirt so that he could turn around and proudly show his cool scar off to Sanada.

"It's the big scar!" He explained, muscles rippling. "You can't miss it!"

“I can’t blame him. I’d do the same if I was him,” Sanada said. He watched as Byodoin stripped at the table, startling a little but then leaning in closer to look at his back. While there were other scars and marks, it really was impossible to miss the one he was talking about. “Wow. It really is big. Can I touch it?” He asked. His hand was already lifted but stayed hovering nearby, waiting for permission.

"Sure, touch all you want." Byodoin agreed. It was just a scar, but people tended to get curious about it. "I stretch and rub a lot to keep it from getting too tense. Have some special balm I put on it regularly and all that."

It wouldn't do to have a stiff back after all.

Sanada traced along the large scar gently with his fingers, feeling the ridges of it and how different it felt to the parts of unblemished skin around it. He couldn’t even begin to imagine how much it must have hurt at the time and yet he was still able to rescue his friend’s sister. “It’s important to take care of our bodies,” Sanada said. “If you ever need help putting cream on them, let me know.” He was sure that Byodoin had plenty of buddies in security to help him, but Sanada thought another helping hand couldn’t hurt. His fingers travelled along Byodoin’s back, over smaller scars until he landed on one that caught his eye and began tracing that one instead. He knew that Byodoin and Tooyama were military heroes but it was still amazing to see the proof of Byodoin’s heroic acts mapped out on his skin like this.

Byodoin shrugged. The offer of help was appreciated, if not really necessary. He could always find someone to boss into helping him if needed. And he was honestly pretty good at applying it himself, if needed.

"Thanks for the offer, Abs. Remember to take better care of yourself than I did, too... the scars are cool, but it would have been better to never have to get any scars." Byodoin instructed. He didn't want Sanada thinking it was cool to be as reckless as he was when he was younger.

Even if he had been totally awesome.

“You got them for good reasons,” Sanada said. Space was dangerous and people more so and without people like Byodoin so many colonies would have failed by now. “And there aren’t many chances for collecting scars in engineering.” At least not if he was good at his job and didn’t get careless. “Even before when I was in security it was just protecting some science labs on Earth.” Not many opportunities for scars when all you did most of the day was check the science nerds coming and going were the right ones and that they locked all the doors properly behind them.

Sanada gave a sigh as he thought about how few chances he’d have to be a hero. It was a good thing really… but looking at Byodoin’s muscled and scarred broad back, he couldn’t help but feel he’d never be half as cool as him.

"True, engineering is far safer. Still an impressive job though. You built this place from scratch... that's something I could never manage." Byodoin picked his drink back up, remaining shirtless. "And you manage to stay in great shape while doing it. You're an impressive man all on your own, Sanada."

Sanada realized he was still feeling up Byodoin’s skin and settled back into his own chair and fiddled with his cup. He could fee heat rising to his cheeks and knew he was bright red from the compliments. “It’s easy to stay in shape when you’re lugging building materials around and trying to defend against sandworms,” Sanada said. “And a lot of the base is sort of like a giant Ikea flat pack. The instructions are just as useful, too.” He gave a small chuckle at his own bad joke.

Byodoin laughed at the bad joke too because he was drunk. "Probably worse than Ikea if they're government issued!!!" He chuckled. "You do stay in excellent shape though. I should have you give some workout tips to the security staff."

Weirdo and the brat were the only worthwhile security staff members, honestly. The rest of the grunts were a lost cause, but maybe Sanada could help.

He refilled their drinks.

“They were the worst! We assembled a whole room completely wrong and had all these parts left over at the end. Seven engineers just standing in the sand holding bolts and metal sheets and wondering where we went wrong,” Sanada said with another laugh. Taking his refilled drink, he took a sip as he looked over Byodoin’s muscled chest and abs and couldn’t understand why security would need him to give tips. “Your muscles are amazing. You don’t need me to teach how to train.”

"Bah, for some reason they're all afraid of me!" Probably because he called them useless wimps, but he wasn’t bothered enough to change his behavior. "They'd definitely prefer instruction from someone young and fresh faced like you, since I'm apparently 'mean' or something."

“You do have a strong aura but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. That’s what you want in security,” Sanada said. And if those in security didn’t look up to and want to be like Byodoin, well they were idiots. “If they want to train with me, they can come to the gym in the morning. I won’t kick them out.” He’d be happy to give pointers as long as they didn’t whine about the number of reps he wanted them to do.

"I'll make it mandatory for them. And then come watch." Watching the wimps suffer sounded like a grand old time to him. "That can wait until after my vacation though. I plan on spending the next week by the pool, planning my seduction of Safety."

Sanada laughed at how cruel Byodoin could be to his subordinates. How fun. “Sure. Send them by around 5:30.” He’ll have finished his own warm up by then and be awake enough to deal with people who had bad form on the weight machines. He nodded along to Byodoin and what he thought was a well deserved vacation and then blinked, his brain trying to process the last part. “You want to seduce safety?” He didn’t think seduction was required to have a safe work environment. Engineering did it through systematic checks and required equipment.

"No, no, Safety is my nickname for the safety consultant. Mizuki." He did thankfully know the name of the man he was seducing. He just never used it. "I'm going to win him over and absolutely savor corrupting him... he's such a spitfire!"

Byodoin could definitely appreciate a strong willed individual.

“Ohhhh I see. He’s nice looking.” And they had been talking about him earlier. It was rude of him to forget so soon even if he was feeling pleasantly floaty this far along into the sake. “And wait… corrupt him?” That didn’t seem like something a security officer should do.

"Sexually." Byodoin explained very helpfully. And drunkenly. "I am going to have sex with that man."

“Oh. Ohhh,” Sanada said, his face beet red as Byodoin said it even more clearly. “Good luck with that, sir. I’m sure anyone would be happy to have you in bed to be corrupted.” Who wouldn’t want to be corrupted by that much muscle and someone who was dedicated to safety had to approve of Byodoin’s heroic efforts in security. Practically a perfect pair.

Byodoin chortled and moved to refill his drink, only to find the bottle empty. "Oh. We drank it all. Well. That was the last of my alcohol. Maybe we should wrap things up for the night?"

Or they could stay and talk more. That could work too.

“Sorry we drank all your alcohol… we can see if the lounge bar has anything stocked…or get food,” Sanada suggested. It wasn’t like they were using their money for anything else, they could pay for the overpriced things the lounge sold. Or go and find some replicator food. He did feel bad about drinking all of Byodoin’s alcohol though… he tried to make a mental note to remember to ask his family to send some sake to him.

Food. Food absolutely sounded amazing, especially if he wanted to avoid being hung over tomorrow.

"Let's get some good food then. I'm drunk enough not to care about the commissary prices." Byodoin got up to go look and see what snack options were to be had. "Do you like chips? Or oh, maybe some jerky?"

He could just get the latter from his room if he really wanted, but... well, he was too tipsy to bother.

“Not like we’re spending money on anything else,” Sanada said as he also stood up. “Both sound good… but let me pay, sir. We drank your sake.” It was only fair for him to repay the favour with snacks.

Byodoin nodded, not about to argue with free snacks if that was how Sanada would like to keep things balanced between the two of them. “Sure, feel free to pay.”

He went back to sit down and get to work eating some of those chips while Sanada took care of the payment. “Mmm... salty foods are the best with alcohol. Usually they aren’t really my thing, but when I’m drinking like this...”

Sanada touched his watch to the payment scanner and walked back to the table with another bag of chips and jerky and sprawled into his seat. “Snacks are always better with alcohol… but we’re doing things out of order,” Sanada said with a small frown. Now they had nothing to wash the snacks down with.

Byodoin laughed. They certainly were a bit out of order on this. But it wasn't too bad. "We'll just eat some snacks and sober up a little, it will be fine."

Maybe they could have some tea or something if they got thirsty again.

“I’m not drunk,” Sanada said. He was maybe a little more than tipsy but certainly not drunk. He chewed on a piece of jerky and most definitely didn’t pout.

Byodoin nodded his head in agreement with the pouting Sanada. "Definitely not drunk. Anyway, what are your plans for the week now that the expeditions have left?"

That seemed like a good topic to discuss... had they discussed it yet?

Sanada smiled at Byodoin agreeing with him and moved his seat a little closer to him. “Planning and maybe starting the swimming lessons I offered. And I want to finalize the plans for Niou’s new storage and loft bed to give to him to approve the final design, oh and I want work on the new oribot for Renji.” Sanada gave a long sigh. His newest bot was proving to be tricky to get to roll into the base without losing the rounded quality of the tentacle creature. It would need more origami type folds that could open and close as needed but getting the placements right for all the correct movements was harder than he thought. “Oh! And Kirihara’s homophone practice. I feel like I should give him something fun to do though… he’s sulking.” Sanada sighed again. He really wasn’t that great with moody teenagers but he felt he owed it to Kirihara to try. It was obvious that he wasn’t just a spoiled brat like his nephew, Sasuke, but actually had reasons to be a bit messed up. He sighed again as he reached for some chips.

Byodoin nodded as he listened to Sanada ramble on. "Those oribots are pretty cool. Good luck making more. And good luck with the kid. He seems like a handful." Byodoin understood what it was like to somehow become responsible for a handful of a child... apparently the UEA was full of them.

“Thank you, sir. I’m trying to make Renji one of those strange tentacle not-plant creatures… it’s harder than I thought.” But mostly because he refused to have a deeper base for it. He was sure he’d figure it out. It just needed more origami trickery and some finer tools. He gave another sigh at Kirihara. He was certainly a handful but he’d take him over Tooyama. “Kirihara’s not as chaotic as Tooyama at least… but I need to plan him a birthday. It’s been years since he’s had one… Do you think he’d like pinata?”

Byodoin looked thoughtful. A pinata, eh? "Sure, why not. Everyone loves beating candy out of those things with a stick, it should be a hit."

He could easily imagine Kirihara having a blast beating up a pinata.

"Is someone already making him a cake? I recommend Tachibana for the job."

“That’s who I was going to ask. He’s a good guy. He should do it for a birthday, right?” Sanada asked scooting even closer. “How about Tooyama? Do you plan birthday parties for him?” Even this far gone to sake, his brain warned him to not bring up Tooyama’s age.

"Yeah, I've planned a few. Back on the old squad we made a big deal in April, usually." He'd had a handful of extra birthdays too. Though he wasn’t supposed to mention those. "The brat's easy to please. His mentality is stuck in a very child like state... oh yeah, I meant to tell you, I need you to wear the Santa costume... he wants a photo of me and Tachibana with Santa."

Sanada was nodding along, the child-like state was easy to notice after just a few minutes with the man, when the last words caught up with him. “Santa? Me? What?” No. No matter how he tried to parse those words that Byodoin just said they did not make sense to him.

"Yeah. Kid's gullible, so you'll work fine as Santa. Buff Santa." Byodoin felt sorry for the man. It was always overwhelming the first time you had to be Santa. "We should make up some gifts for your brat too, as long as we're celebrating for Kintarou. It might make him less pissy."

“Definitely buff,” Sanada said and then wondered if the base even had a Santa suit on it somewhere. And why was he agreeing to this? He looked at Byodoin and thought about asking if it was an order but decided to just take it as one. Better than asking and getting a disappointed look. “Kirihara is going to get spoiled.” But if it was Santa and a bonus Christmas, that could be an event for everyone. It wasn’t like it was a welcome back party or birthday party… “Maybe it’s okay though…”

"The kid deserves to be a little spoiled. The UEA is... tough on brats, to say the least." Byodoin replied. He'd seen it all with Kintarou, and it wouldn't surprise him if Kirihara had been through a lot of the same.

He deserved a little bit of extra Christmas.

"He seems sharper than the brat though, so warn him in advance you'll be in the Santa suit so he doesn't ruin things for Tooyama." Byodoin suggested.

“I’m glad Renji and I waited until after university to join,” Sanada said. He was also thankful that despite his desire to focus solely on security and being a future hero that Yanagi had cajoled him into majoring in engineering and focusing on both during his training. It seemed that the UEA was especially tough on its security personnel. “I’ll talk with Kirihara and see if he wants to join in. He might still be sulking. He was being a brat about Tooyama going off on the mission instead of getting a punishment right away.” It was clear that Kirihara had more issues than his inability to use homophones but Sanada still didn’t know what things would bring it up or how to settle him down. Ah well. He had five years to figure it all out.

Sanada's naivety was adorable, really. The man just wouldn't be the same if he didn't live in some alternate reality where the UEA didn't have child soldiers and horrific experiences.

Byodoin ate a piece of jerky. "Well, Tooyama will definitely be punished, don't let him think that won't be the case."

“I did tell him to take it up with you if he had a problem with how Tooyama was handled,” Sanada said. He had trusted that Byodoin would do something to try and get it into Tooyama’s head that destroying things as a first attempt at leaving a room was not the right course of action. “You handle him well. Have you known him a long time?” He didn’t understand their strange relationship but it seemed to work well for them and the UEA and he supposed that’s what mattered.

Byodoin nodded his head. "I've known him since he was just a kid. He's always been just as crazy as he is right now. It's like he hasn't aged a day."

Well, at least Kintarou was happy and living a good life between bouts of destruction.

"I guess I kinda play the role of a surrogate father figure for him, since he's mentally-" and physically "-so young."

Sanada nodded. That made sense when it came to their bond and how Tooyama acted. “I did notice that he has a youthful uhh energy to him,” Sanada said. It would be completely cute if that energy also didn’t lead to engineering having to fix treadmills all the time and the complete destruction of things. “You must be enjoying your break from having to wrangle it though.” He knew he would.

Byodoin nodded solemnly. "I intend to enjoy the next two weeks to the fullest I can. Not being in charge of the brat is a relief."

Hopefully the brat didn't misbehave when left to his own devices.

“He should be fine. He’s punching rocks with his new gloves.” Sanada was quite proud of how they had turned out even if Niou and him had to rush them a bit. Tooyama certainly seemed excited by them. Maybe they would have to make some gloves in various sizes and see what other uses they could find for them. He made another mental note to go along with the thing he had to do for Byodoin. He didn’t quite remember what it was but he was sure it would come back to him.

"Yeah, those gloves sound useful. I could use a pair for when I go out on missions." They had to send him on missions again someday. The UEA would only punish him with paperwork for so long before they missed how useful he was. "What other cool gear can you make? I bet you could build a whole super suit."

Like a mecha or something. That would be rad. And probably useful for construction.

Sanada lit up under the praise and leaned in toward Byodoin as he nodded. “Building the suit shell would be easy. But getting it functional and light enough to wear for long times would be hard. It would need a small but strong power source and then strong but light materials to make it. Gloves are easy though. We could make you a pair,” Sanada said. Maybe when engineering had downtime and enough spare parts lying around he could challenge engineering into making a suit.

Byodoin just let Sanada lean on him. If the man was a touchy drunk that was fine. A little skinship was always welcome!

"True, a suit like that isn't very feasible. It would be cool as fuck, though!" Byodoin personally would love to see it done, if Sanada ever had the time. "But thanks for agreeing to make the gloves for me!"

“So cool. We have the nanosuits, spacesuits, and the robotic exoskeletons…. We just need to combine them all…” Now that he was thinking about it. It would be really badass to be able to combine all of those and add in a few more awesome specs to make a great suit. Getting it to fly might be one step too far but laser blasting would be doable. “I wonder if the gloves could have lasers in them…” Now that would be super cool. Punching and blasting combined.

Byodoin looped an arm around Sanada, pumped at the idea of laser gloves. "Laser gloves would definitely be awesome. I bet I could find funds in the security budget to develop those!"

It he even remembered this conversation tomorrow!

Sanada gave a laugh and tossed his arm around Byodoin in return. Drinking and sharing fun ideas was really a great way to unwind after working in the medbay all day. “Security gets the best budgets.” Engineering was the group in charge of making sure the base existed and ran but they were always scraping together supplies. “We don’t even have a head of engineering…” Maybe that’s why their department lacked funding… did they miss some important paperwork that needed to be filed? Wouldn’t Renji have told him? His smile faded and he gave a sigh. He hated paperwork.

Byodoin patted Sanada firmly on the back, nodding his head. "I'll submit the proposal soon. For now though we might as well get headed to bed. It's pretty late. We'll have to do this again sometime."

Byodoin was reluctant to end things, but he was sobering up and just getting tired.

“We need more sake first,” Sanada said. Did he already make a mental note to ask his family to send some? He made another one just in case. “And bed is probably a good thing. Another long day at the medbay tomorrow.” Sanada pushed himself up out of his chair using Byodoin’s muscled arm and shoulder to help him and then wobbled slightly at the sudden shift in position. Perhaps he was more tired than he thought.

Byodoin nodded his head, helping Sanada get settled on his feet before wobbling them back toward their rooms. "Good luck on those repairs. I'm going to relax by the pool!"

“Thank you for the sake and company, sir,” Sanada said and pulled Byodoin in for a hug before he could escape. “And don’t drown. Buddy system.”

Byodoin awkwardly hugged back and nodded his head. "Yes, buddy system. No swimming alone." That was a lie. "Anyway. You go get some sleep."

And so he deposited Sanada in his room before returning to his own. That had been a pretty successful evening!