When Maruten turned around to find his cousin in the doorway he didn't jump, because he was a well trained ninja, but he did swear a round and bloody oath. The alarm jutsus on his small house could keep out the most determined of jounin, but Chouichi was not just a jounin, he was an ANBU agent- fresh off a shift, if the gear he was still wearing was any indication, though his mask was hanging on his belt in its pouch.
"Out!" Maruten shooed the redhead. "Out out out!"
"I haven't done anything," his cousin said defensively, shifting from one foot to the other. "You were busy I didn't want to interrupt."
Maruten looked at the table, which was nicely set with lit candles. "Yes I was and I am and I need you to leave."
"Look, Maru-"
"I don't care if it's a mission, I don't care if the Hokage had dropped dead, I don't care if my mother has run out of rice flour I need you to go, Chouichi."
"He's not even here yet!" Chouichi said, though he let his cousin chase him to the front room.
"He will be soon now git."
Chouichi peered over his cousin's shoulder back at the dining nook in the kitchen. "Are those your mom's heirloom chopsticks?"
Maruten colored, the red flush obscuring the spheres on his cheeks. "Yes, if you must know."
"So you're serious."
"As serious as it GETS now if you please-"
"Okay good," Chouichi made a quick hand seal. "you're gonna need this then."
He held out a hand to catch the wine bottle that poofed out of the seal on his sleeve. Maruten blinked at it.
"Consider it an apology for fucking up your last date," Chouichi said with a small smile.
"You didn't fuck it up," Maruten sighed. What could you do when your cousin showed up with vital intel on a potential breach of the outer wall? Chouichi hadn't even gone back to headquarters, his captain had told him, quote, 'get your ass home and sound the fucking alarm'.
Maruten was Akitaro's second in command. Of course he had to be informed of a potential breach of the Konoha defenses, especially when the intel held out and gave them one of Iwa's spies on a platter.
That Chouichi managed to roll in through his bedroom window when he was an inch and a half away from his boyfriend's dick, well.
Shit happens.
Maruten examined the bottle. Plum wine in white stoneware, bearing a distinctive maker's mark.
"…is this from Lord Chouza's private stock?" He asked.
"Why do you ask questions you don't wanna know the answers to?" Chouichi asked.
"Am I going to be impaled and hung in the great hall for this?"
"Hell no." Chouichi said. "But-"
He reached out and brushed the bottle. Maruten's fingers reflexively twitched as he felt the temperature drop.
"Best served cold." Chouichi said. "I wish you all the luck in the world, Cousin. He's a Main House Hyuuga. You're gonna be fighting uphill the whole way."
"I know," Maruten said, putting the bottle on a side table. "But what the hell, every day's a good day to die."
"So it is." Chouichi said. "Good luck, Maru." He winked and disappeared in a neat transport jutsu.
Maruten watched the spot his cousin had been in for a moment or two before sighing and conveying the bottle to the fridge.
Tonight. He would ask Tokuma to marry him tonight, come hell, high water, or Hyuuga Hiashi.
(Akimichi Maruten and Hyuuga Tokuma are both minor characters with little development. We know Maruten and Itachi were in the same class, so it stands to reason he and Chouichi are close in age. I have seen exactly one (1) fic with Tokuma and Maruten. I am convinced they are in love. Because fight me.)