“Yer late,” she grumbled and at the risk of sounding like some typical, long-suffering wife, she immediately stopped nagging. He was a captain and it wasn’t easy for him to get away to the lieutenant’s residence in the 12th Division.
At the very least, she had prepared dinner for him tonight. Only because… well… because she felt like it. It’s what wives did, didn’t they? Have dinner. Support each other. Keep each other’s secrets – that last one still bugged her. This marriage wasn’t known to a single soul and now, she was briefly wondering if it had even happened.
But it had. Of course it had.
“I just wanted ya ‘ta have the dinner I made. Taichou says I make a good oyakudon.”
“ I’ve got some things ‘ta finish, ” he replied in neutral response to her grumpiness. He could have had his dinner at the mess hall of the Fifth as he usually did most evenings, but since she had gone out of her way to ask him to come over, he had obliged. He hadn’t eaten yet, but then again, he was used to keeping irregular mealtimes. It looked like she hadn’t taken her dinner yet, too. Had she been waiting for him?
“ Don’t wait up for me next time and eat first. ” Was there even going to be a next time? He would be optimistic. They were still in the process of figuring out this marriage, but he wasn’t resistant to her attempts at...coexisting.
Shinji swept down and took his seat on the zabuton, settling directly opposite of her. The spread of dishes on the low table in front of him looked good. His stomach stirred dully with a demand for sustenance. After gazing at her briefly, lean, elegant fingers picked up the pair of chopsticks resting at the side, and his other hand curled around the bowl of oyakodon set before him, pulling it closer. Picking up a piece of chicken from the donburi, he bit into the morsel. It was tender and flavorful.
He paused in muted surprise, his eyes widening; he had not known that she actually knew how to cook, and quite well, too. “ ...S’good, ” he told her after he swallowed, scooping up a generous clump of fluffy white rice with his chopsticks next and placing it in his mouth. He was actually enjoying the warm meal. Casually licking a grain of rice from the ends of his utensil, he caught her stare and raised one fine, golden brow.
“ Are ya gonna eat too, or are ya just gonna watch me eat? What else did ya make? ”