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The commander thought today was a simple, peaceful patrol mission on the surface just like any other. Thought being the imperative word here, It was strange, they hadn’t seen Raptures in a few days, nothing wrong had happened, no heretics or tyrants, he hadn’t even got his standard stabbing in the gut yet!
But despite the apparent peacefulness, something kept nagging at his mind, kept gnawing at his thoughts and whispering something was not ‘normal’
And when he stared through their little camp to the bickering Anis and Neon, and Rapi preparing a campfire it finally hit him, This was a Counters mission, period, no additional squad or Pilgrim tagging along, It was just them, that made him feel… odd, for some reason, when was the last time it was just the four of them? The grave digger mission? Well, actually there was that odd mission investigating the signal from the surface.
As much as he racked his brain though, he could think of no more than these two missions. Had they really only ever been on solo missions twice? That was weird, he knew it was supposed to be the normal thing to not have aid, was it Anderson, Ingrid and Mustang pulling strings? Or was it that some unseen force demanded him to meet and be tempted by more and more Nikkes so he’d spend his money on them?
“Commander?” Rapi called softly, sitting right next to him on the ground “What are you thinking about? You look so focused” The second in command of Counters asked with a certain softness in her voice that was becoming more and more common, a certain tone of admiration and affection that made the commander feel all warm and cozy inside.
The commander tried to reply to her, really tried to, but as hard as he focused he couldn’t remember what he just thought of, too enamored by the glimmer in the Nikke’s eyes. He felt like he was on the verge of achieving some enlightened understanding of their reality, but Rapi’s small smile made it impossible to concentrate “Nothing Important, Rapipi” The commander replied confidently, so distracted he didn’t even notice his own slip of the tongue.
“Rapipi?” The red haired Nikke replied, eyebrows furrowed into an adorable expression of confusion that made the commander need to hold back the urge to just pinch her cheek or something.
Ah shit, Rapi was giving him ‘the gaze’
“What do you mean, ‘Rapipi’ commander?” Rapi asked with an intense gaze bordering on a glare, Rapi had also been growing more and more jealous honestly, frankly, it just made her cuter.
“It’s a nickname” The commander gave her his most charming smile despite the cold sweat in the back of his neck “It’s a silly nickname I use for you in my head sometimes…” He didn’t realize how cringe it was until he said it out loud, but now the commander of counters, the ‘rising hope’ of the ark who claimed a part of the surface wanted nothing more than to bury his head in the ground “Do you like it?” He still asked despite the overwhelming amounts of cringe he felt, nervous and eager in equal measure, an idiot and a hopeless fool he might be, but he wouldn’t be the guy who befriended Heretics if he wasn’t a brave idiot at least.
The way Rapi immediately looked away immediately twisted his heart into a pretzel.
“It’s silly…” Rapi delivered the second shot straight through his heart, nearly making him crumple to the floor right there and then
“But…” for a second she wanted to confess that, although stupid, it was also the cutest thing she had ever heard, but just the thought of admitting that made her entire face as red as her hair and made her heart feel like it was going to explode, so instead she just gave a simple nod “You can keep calling me that, your… ‘Rapipi’” The nickname still sounded silly and weird in her tongue, It sounded a lot better when he said it.
The joyous look in the commander’s face made her want to explode in shyness and happiness in equal measure.
“Wow, they’re doing it, they’re having a moment”
“Shhhh! Neon! You’re too loud!”
Now Rapi wanted to explode for a different reason, why did it feel like something always interrupted her and the Commander when they were having a moment!?
“I see you’re done fighting for the chocolate bar” Rapi noted, her voice mostly even save for the smallest bite of spite.
“I’m sorry” Neon at least had the decency to apologize.
While munching on her chocolate bar, but still it counted for something, right?
“Wait, no don’t stop! keep going!” Anis begged in a panic, borderline pleading for the commander and Rapi to continue their ‘moment’
“You’re not a very good wingwoman, are you Anis?” Neon sighed, voice smug as it usually was when teasing Anis but even her had a hint of frustration in her voice.
“How can I not be desperate!? Every week these two have a romantic moment like this and they just won’t do it for some reason!”
Well, now that Anis said it, the commander did feel like every time he would get the courage to kiss Rapi or tell her how he felt he would suddenly black out and awake alone in his bed, it was like an otherworldly presence didn’t want them together, perhaps to constantly tease and edge an outside audien-
“She’s like the only Nikke we know that hasn’t done ‘it’ yet!” Anis said in frustration, and the air suddenly felt still, Rapi’ eyes zeroing on Anis with the focus of a hawk.
The commander's cold sweat returned twice as cold as before.
“What do you mean, I’m the only one?” Rapi’s voice was so even and blank that it could even compete with Enikk, or Rapi herself before her Red Hood upgrade.
“Uhhhhhhhh” Anis stuttered, looking away awkwardly, almost shamefully.
Thankfully, the Counters always had someone willing to say it how it was, no matter how screwed it made everyone else after she said it.
“Well, you’ve always known how the commander gets around, Rapi” Neon offered with a proud smile for some reason.
Rapi’s head turned to stare at the commander slowly, robotically, and in a way that made all of the previous warmth of the campfire and her presence to vanish into a deep coldness.
She didn’t say anything, now she just stared, eyes blank, deep into the commander’s soul, making him sweat frigid cold.
He knew he had to defend himself, he did love Rapi! He just… never could confess it for some reason.
“I-I haven’t done with everyone” His mouth moved, speaking words he was completely certain were not his own “I haven’t done it with Rei and Anne?” He sounded so nervous, so shaky that it came out like a question.
“I’m being compared to Rei and Anne…” Rapi didn’t sound sad, or angry, she just said it as a cold fact, her eyes losing any and all life they held beforehand.
The commander felt like he should schedule his own funeral, maybe grave could help.
It was then that Rapi suddenly realized something, and her eyebrows furrowed into anger and frustration that wasn’t there beforehand. “You’ve done it with NEON, before me!?” she said it with such frustration and anger that the commander honestly felt he should defend Neon’s honor before his own.
He wouldn’t have to, at least, as the woman herself was more than eager to defend herself.
“Oh yeah, Rapi, I was one of the first Nikkes Master showed his true 'firepower', its really big, I thought It would split me in half i tell you!” Neon boasted with a ruineously smug voice, turning her nose up at Rapi for good measure. "At least he always has some nice cream to make me feel warm and cozy after~"
‘Neon is in dire need of correction’ the commander thought as if by reflex
Oh no, Rapi’s glare was turning hot enough to burn a hole in his forehead.
“Not just Nikkes, he goes on weekly dates with Shifty too” Anis, for some god forsaken reason, felt the need to add, throwing fuel into the fires of Rapi’s rage.
“I was second to Shifty and Neon, commander, Shifty and Neon” Rapi repeated, completely baffled, her eyebrows still furrowed into a glare.
The muffled protests from the side were probably from Neon, but this time Anis finally decided to help the commander not get throwin into a larger grave.
The commander felt Rapi grip his collar “We are doing it tonight, commander” Rapi stated.
“But we’re on a mission” The commander said, by instinct and reaction than anything else.
“I don’t care” The usually professional Rapi said “Do you not love me, commander?”
“I do, Rapi! I love you!” He said as quickly as he could, and he meant every word, to finally get that out of his chest was bliss only matched by his nervousness.
“Then take off your clothes and go to your tent” Rapi ordered, blushing red despite her stern expression, that slightly softened as she said “I love you too, commander”
Out of their vision, Anis and Neon high fived for a job well done.
They didn’t see any raptures for the rest of their mission, for the next four days the commander had to make up for every wrong he had done to his Rapipi.
When they came back, he looked more like a dried juice box than a human, holding hands with a Rapi who was beaming brighter than ever before.
He was sent to Mary and Pepper, they made the problem worse.