Chapter Text
"I consider this a historic victory."
Chloe rested her chin on her hand, watching Yuri like someone observing a rare phenomenon of nature. The kind of creature that usually lives hidden in dusty archives and windowless corridors — and that, by some statistical miracle, had been captured and brought into a real café.
"Victory?" he repeated, suspicious, staring into the cup as if the dark liquid might contain confidential information.
"Yes. I achieved three impossible feats in a single afternoon: dragged you out of headquarters, made you sit in a chair that doesn't belong to the government, and prevented you from sneaking work into your pocket. That should earn me a medal."
Yuri frowned.
"I was not 'dragged.' I came of my own free and spontaneous…" — he hesitated with a brief pause — "insistence."
"Psychological pressure." she corrected, satisfied, raising a finger. "Ancient technique."
The truth was that Chloe had spent nearly twenty minutes cornering Yuri in the hallway, blocking escape routes with a skill worthy of an elite agent. She had used every argument: that he had dark circles under his eyes, that the report could wait, that nobody died because of a cup of coffee. In the end, she resorted to a low blow:
"If you pass out from exhaustion, who's going to save me from boring meetings?"
Against questionable logic and a pleading look, Yuri had never had any defense.
The café was small, half-hidden between two old shops, with the smell of sweet bread and polished wood. There was a low radio playing an old song, and the late afternoon light drifted lazily through the window. Nothing there resembled the metallic coldness of the SSS corridors.
Precisely because of that, Yuri seemed out of place — his back too straight, and an expression far too serious for a place that tolerated crumbs on the floor and chipped cups.
The young man picked up the sugar bowl and dropped four spoonfuls into the dark liquid, stirring with almost military attention.
"Four spoonfuls?" Chloe widened her eyes. "Do you want coffee or industrial syrup?"
"Sugar gives energy." the dark-haired man shot back immediately.
"Energy or a shortcut to diabetes? That's the argument of a seven-year-old." she says, almost in disbelief.
"It's a scientifically plausible argument."
"Did you just invent that science?"
"You're insufferable…" he says calmly, almost amused even, without realizing it.
"I know that. But… you're tired." Chloe commented, as if talking about the weather.
"I'm not."
Automatic response. Professional reflex. She raised an eyebrow.
"You denied it too fast. Classic sign."
"There is no 'classic sign.'"
"There is. It's in the 'Chloe Manual for Coexisting with Yuri Briar: Chapter 3.'"
"That manual doesn't exist." The Lieutenant rolls his eyes.
"Yet." she replies between soft giggles.
Yuri huffed, but didn't respond. Chloe took advantage of the silence to reach out and straighten his tie, which hung slightly crooked. She did it naturally, like someone fixing the bent ear of a stubborn little animal found in the rain.
Yuri froze completely.
"You didn't need to do that."
"Yes, I did. It was bothering me."
"No, it wasn't."
"It really was."
Her fingers lingered a second longer than necessary on purpose. Yuri looked away, defeated, as he caught the faint scent of her perfume — something subtle, nothing like the suffocating fragrances of the other colleagues at headquarters.
"You know…" Chloe said, returning to her own cup. "Just having you here is already a great achievement."
"What an exaggeration. It's just coffee."
"For you, this is practically a seaside vacation complete with a hammock and coconut water."
The young man almost laughed… almost.
They stayed in silence for a few seconds, listening to the clinking of dishes and the distant murmur of the street. It was strange how that place seemed to suspend time. No orders, no reports, no constant weight between the shoulder blades.
Chloe watched him over the rim of her cup. Really watched: the dark circles he pretended not to have, the tense shoulders even when he tried to relax, and that damn rebellious strand of hair on top of his head.
"Bunny."
"What?" Yuri blinked, completely confused.
"You." She pointed at him with the spoon. "You look like a bunny."
"Huh?! That doesn't make any sense."
"It does. Look at those red eyes. And that hair…"
"My hair is normal. My eyes too." He takes a sip of coffee, trying to escape that insane conversation.
"Not normal at all." Chloe tilted her head. "That ahoge of yours looks like a little ear. Just like those TV heroes you pretend you don't watch."
"I don't watch those childish things." He crosses his arms as if he had just been hit with the worst slander in the universe.
"You do. That one with the crazy scientist… what is it? Build?"
Yuri's face turned dangerously warm.
"It's Kamen Rider Build!" he complained like an offended fan, almost raising his voice. "And that has no scientific relation whatsoever."
"See? You do watch it." Chloe teased him, victorious. "That's the second time you talk exactly like the protagonist, Sento." She smiled, cruel and affectionate at the same time. "Bunny eyes, bunny ear, bunny stubbornness…"
"Rabbits are not stubborn."
"You are living proof that they are."
Yuri tried to maintain a serious expression, but the blush rose without permission.
"You're blushing." Chloe observed, delighted. "See? Now you look even more like a little bunny."
"Stop that!" he grumbled, not knowing where to hide his face.
"Teasing you is my favorite pastime."
She said it laughing, but there was something soft beneath the joke. A silent care that Yuri never noticed — or pretended not to notice.
He wouldn't admit it, but that was the only place where his chest didn't hurt as much.
Outside, the world remained calm. People crossed the street, a bicycle passed by with a soft ringing sound, and the sun painted the sidewalk gold. Everything absurdly ordinary.
Yuri had no idea that this would be one of the last simple afternoons of his life. That, behind the smell of coffee and Chloe's laughter, there was an entire empire built on lies, and that the blindfold over his eyes, so comfortable, would begin to tighten…
Chloe was the first to stand up, stretching her arms as if she had just won an epic battle.
"Mission accomplished. I managed to feed the bunny with industrially sugared coffee."
"I am not a rabbit." Yuri grumbled, standing up right after and grabbing his coat.
"You are. You just need to learn how to chew carrots."
The dark-haired man rolled his eyes, but there was an almost-smile threatening to appear. They walked to the register at the same time and, as if it were choreographed, both opened their wallets together.
"I'll pay." Yuri said immediately.
"No way. I'm the one who dragged you, the bill is mine." Chloe shot back, already extending the money.
"That doesn't make sense. I used more sugar here."
"Exactly why I should receive compensation for psychological damage."
The attendant watched the scene with a contained little smile, shifting her gaze between the two.
"Are you two dating?"
The silence that followed was almost physical.
"No!" Yuri answered way too fast.
"Not yet." the brown-haired woman added at the exact same second, calm.
He turned to her, face on fire.
"Chloe!"
"What? The lady asked, I answered with philosophical sincerity."
The attendant let out a quiet laugh, accepting the payment from Yuri's hands before the argument turned into a diplomatic incident.
He left the café grumbling something about "collective conspiracy," while Chloe walked beside him with a victorious air.
As soon as the door closed behind them, a drop fell right on the tip of Yuri's nose. Then another. And another. In a few seconds, the entire sky seemed to remember it was late afternoon and decided to pour all at once.
"Oh no…" Chloe looked up, defeated. "I didn't bring an umbrella."
"Of course you didn't." the dark-haired man replied immediately. "You were too busy kidnapping me to pay attention to the weather forecast."
"How many times are you going to repeat that?"
"At least twice. That was the second."
She made a face, shielding her head with her hands as the rain intensified. People started running along the sidewalk, opening colorful umbrellas as if the street had suddenly turned into a crooked garden.
"So now what, 'Mr. Responsible Agent'? Are we going to melt here?"
Yuri sighed, defeated, and opened his briefcase.
"Luckily, someone in this professional relationship thinks about the basics."
"'Professional relationship'? I like that term."
He ignored it and pulled out a foldable umbrella, but relatively large, black and simple. He opened it with a dry click of the button, creating a small private world over their heads.
"I think we both fit." he murmured, as if it were just a technical statement.
"How romantic." Chloe commented, stepping under the protection without ceremony.
They started walking along the wet sidewalk. The rain made that comforting sound, mixed with the distant noise of cars and the smell of freshly washed asphalt. Yuri held the umbrella handle with the same serious posture as always, trying to maintain a polite distance… just trying.
Chloe, obviously, did not cooperate.
"It's cold." she said, and before he could react, she wrapped an arm around his waist, pressing her body against his naturally.
"Hey!" Yuri almost stumbled. "There's no need for that."
"There is. Climate survival measure." she teased again, but the truth was she was loving that situation, even thanking the heavens for sending that rain at such a convenient moment.
"That has no scientific logic whatsoever." he shot back, trying to fake annoyance.
"You're talking exactly like that TV hero of yours again."
"I don't…" he started, but the sentence died halfway when he realized how close she was.
Yuri's face turned dangerously red again. Chloe pretended not to notice, lightly resting her head on his shoulder as they walked. She smiled, satisfied, like a silly teenager melting over her crush. Then she decided to tease once more.
"Your heart is beating fast, bunny."
"It's the sugar effect."
"Of course, of course. Four spoonfuls explain any human emotion."
The Lieutenant wanted to reply, but the rain seemed to swallow the words. The city around them remained too ordinary: lit shop windows, people running not to get wet, a dog shaking water near the corner. Everything absurdly normal.
Chloe tightened the hug just a little more, just enough to feel that he wouldn't pull away.
"Thank you for coming today." she said in a lower tone, without the usual teasing.
Yuri took a few seconds to respond.
"It was… acceptable."
"Translation: you liked it."
"Don't twist my words."
She laughed, and the sound blended with the rain in a way that was almost too beautiful.
For Yuri, that moment was still just another slightly chaotic afternoon beside Chloe, nothing more than a sweet interval between missions and reports.
He had no idea that, while sharing an umbrella and pretending his racing heart was the sugar's fault, the first crack in his world had already begun to open.
The rain gradually weakened, turning into a lazy drizzle as the two walked toward Chloe's building. The umbrella still dripped, and Yuri insisted on keeping a straight posture, even with her arm still wrapped around his waist.
"You don't need to escort me to the door." she commented, watching the building draw closer.
"I do. Basic safety procedure." he said, just like that.
"Procedure or an excuse to spend more time with me?" she took another opportunity to tease him.
"Procedure." he answered way too fast.
Chloe laughed, lightly gripping the fabric of his coat between her fingers.
"You're predictable, bunny."
"Stop calling me that."
"Never."
They stopped in front of the simple building where she lived. The old façade reflected the yellowish streetlights, and some windows were already lit, with the smell of food escaping into the street. Yuri closed the umbrella and shook off the water carefully, as if he were disarming a dangerous object.
"Delivery completed." he announced, in an almost official tone.
"Mission successfully accomplished?"
"Acceptable."
She smiled in that way that always dismantled half of his seriousness.
"Thank you for today, Yuri. Really."
He looked away to the wet sidewalk.
"It was nothing special."
"It was."
The silence lasted a few seconds, filled only by the distant noise of the city. Chloe leaned in, and before he could predict it, left a quick kiss on his cheek.
"Good night, hardworking bunny."
"Hey…!"
"See you tomorrow. Don't show up at headquarters before the sun rises, got it?"
Yuri stood still as she climbed the steps and disappeared through the door, still feeling the warmth of the kiss as if he had been marked with fresh ink.
"Unbelievable…" he muttered to himself, opening the umbrella again and starting the walk back.
The walk to his apartment was silent. The rain no longer bothered him, but his clothes were still damp, especially the shoulders, and the smell of Chloe's perfume seemed to have clung to the fabric. He tried to convince himself that it was just the result of physical proximity, nothing more than an unimportant detail.
"Sugar effect. That's all." he grumbled, as if the phrase itself could explain everything.
When he finally reached the building where he lived, he climbed the stairs on autopilot, taking off his coat still in the hallway. He was thinking about taking a hot shower and reviewing some reports before going to sleep, as he always did, when…
"Yuri, you took a while."
Yor's voice hit him before he even turned on the light.
She was in the kitchen, wearing a light apron with two bags on the table. The smell of homemade food filled the entire apartment, warm and familiar.
"Nee-san?" he blinked, surprised. "What are you doing here?"
"I bought dinner for the two of us. It's been a while since we ate together, hasn't it?"
Yuri felt his heart soften immediately, as it always did when he saw that smile.
"You didn't need to go through all that trouble."
"Of course I did. Siblings need to eat properly."
She approached and then frowned.
"But… why are you so wet?"
"Ah, that?" he replied, taking off his shoes. "I got caught in the rain on the way."
"You didn't bring an umbrella?"
"I did. It's just that… I shared it with a coworker."
The sentence slipped out far too naturally. Yor stopped mid-motion, holding a pot as if she had heard something extraordinary.
"Coworker?"
"Yeah."
"A girl?"
"Yes, obviously."
Her face lit up in a second.
"Yuri! Are you seeing someone?"
"What? I'm not!"
"So she's your girlfriend?"
"She's not my girlfriend!" he was far too emphatic in the denial, as if he himself needed to convince himself of his own truth.
Yor clasped her hands, clearly emotional.
"How lovely! My little brother has grown so much…"
"Nee-san, you're drawing absurd conclusions."
"Is she pretty? Kind? Does she treat you well?"
"Chloe is just my partner from the sector."
"Chloe… even the name is cute!"
Yuri felt his face heat up again, just like at the café.
"There's nothing cute about it. We just… shared an umbrella because it was raining. That's all." he shot back with the most obvious answer possible.
"That's so romantic!"
"It's not romantic! It's climate logistics."
The brunette laughed, starting to arrange the plates on the table.
"I'm so happy imagining you with someone special."
He wanted to correct her, explain, deny it again, but the words didn't come out. He watched his sister moving around the kitchen, so sweet, so dedicated, so perfectly part of the world he believed he knew.
"Let's eat before it gets cold." she said, without imagining the weight that each simple gesture carried for him.
Yuri sat at the table, still with the sensation of the rain and Chloe's embrace mixed in his memory. He looked at Yor serving dinner with care and thought, for the thousandth time, that his life was simple and safe.
He had no way of knowing that, somewhere within the SSS, the name of the sister he had always believed to be perfect was stamped on a silent file, and that the blindfold over his eyes remained firm, comfortable and dangerously tight.
Yuri came out of the shower with the heat still clinging to his skin, steam slipping through the half-open door like a lazy ghost. The apartment was silent again, that domestic silence that always came after Yor's visits, when the smell of dinner still lingered in the air and the sink had already been washed with almost childish care.
He put on a comfortable long-sleeved pajama, ran the towel through his dark hair and walked to the bedroom with slow steps, as if his own body were asking for a truce.
On the bedside table, the teacup released a faint curl of steam. Yuri held it with both hands before sitting on the edge of the bed, feeling the clean sheet fabric under his fingers. It was strange how ordinary days could weigh more than dangerous missions.
He took a slow sip, the mild taste spreading a discreet comfort through his chest. His mind, however, did not obey the same calm rhythm. It kept returning to the same scenes, like a stubborn film insisting on replaying the best and worst parts.
The endless report from the morning, the superior demanding results, the metallic noise of the SSS corridors. Then, the absurd contrast of the small café, the golden light in the window, Chloe's smile pushing a cup toward him as if offering a peace agreement.
Yuri leaned back against the headboard and sighed, his red eyes fixed on nothing. He could still hear her voice with irritating clarity.
"Four spoonfuls of sugar?"
He almost laughed to himself. Almost. He brought the cup to his lips again, remembering the way she had adjusted his tie without asking permission, as if that gesture were the most natural thing in the world. Without realizing it, he brought his right hand to his neck, even though he was no longer wearing a tie, as if he could still feel her hand there.
No one did that to him. No one had the courage, actually. Chloe did. Chloe always did.
The rain also returned to his memory, the heavy sound hitting the umbrella too large to be elegant, and too perfect to allow excuses. Her arm around his waist, the light perfume mixed with the smell of wet street, and that strange warmth that didn't come from the body, but from somewhere more embarrassing.
"Bunny..."
The word slipped from the memory, and the Lieutenant felt his face heat up again, alone in the dark room. What an absurd, ridiculous nickname, with no logic at all. Even so, the corner of his mouth curved into a minimal, traitorous smile.
Then came Yor, the dinner, the awkward conversation in the kitchen. His sister asking why he was so wet, her eyes shining with that almost dangerous innocence.
"So she's your girlfriend, Yuri?"
He had choked on the rice. Denied it too quickly. Yor laughing, saying she would be happy if he found someone, that he deserved good things, that he didn't need to live only for work and for her. Yuri remembered looking away, pushing the food on his plate like a teenager caught in the act. If he knew… if he even suspected half of the world turning beneath that simple table…
The tea ended without him noticing. Yuri placed the cup on the bedside table, turned off the lamp and slipped under the sheets, feeling his body finally give in to the exhaustion. The pillow had a neutral soap scent, and that, somehow, felt like an anchor.
His thoughts grew slower, more confused, blending Chloe's laughter with Yor's gentle voice, the sound of rain with the distant ticking of the living room clock. He turned to his side, dark strands falling over his forehead, the crooked ahoge pointing nowhere like a small stubborn ear.
Yuri closed his red eyes still with the ghost of a smile on his face, believing that it had been just another ordinary day, a quiet interval between greater duties. He had no idea that, while he drifted to sleep, the real storm was already moving toward him, silent and patient, ready to tear away every comfortable blindfold he insisted on calling life.
To be continued…