Inception

Chapter 4: No Time for Romance

She only had time to put Hibino's blood samples into a carefully sectioned off area of the fridge when Hoshina reappeared behind her.

"I wasn't lying to him."

She sighed and shut the fridge with a snap. "But you made it sound so much worse than it is. I don't want to scare him."

"He's signed off ownership of his body to the State. It isn't like he can change that now."

"Oh my god, don't you have a job to do?"

"Yes." A pause, in which he blinked at her coyly. "But you're mad at me."

"Cut the shit, you've never cared about that before."

"Not so, but you are right," his grin widened into something less plastic and more real. "I am a shit stirrer. More importantly, it took me three months to get you to hold a conversation with me let alone get your science spiel. What did Hibino do to open you up on your first meeting?"

"It wasn't three months, and he's nice, okay? Doesn't everything about him just scream big friendly puppy dog?"

"Is that you're type then?"

"I don't have a type."

He'd followed her across the lab to the station they set up to prepare cell samples. It was basically a big plastic container of blue kaiju nutritional fluid, a white box used to delicately separate cells and boxes of sterile petri dishes.

He said something like 'Everyone has a type,' but it was covered up by the buzzing of the intercom.

"Vice Captain Hoshina, please report to the west exit. The new recruits are already gathering for ten o'clock drills."

Captain Ashiro did not sound pleased. But, then, she rarely did. As far as Lena knew, she wasn't much for friendly chit chat. Very business-like.

Hoshina groaned and ran a hand down his face.

"I still have twenty fucking minutes," he mumbled. "Why is this lot so gun-ho?"

"Because if they're not they'll die?" The one that should really be questioning their sanity was the one trying to talk about types when there was world-saving shit to do.

"Yeah yeah." He turned with a two-figured salute over his head. "See you later, nerd. Oh, I'd think twice about crushing on Hibino. I'm pretty sure there's something between him and captain."

She raised an eyebrow, minutely interested, but not nearly interested enough to spare more than a second thought on it before turning back to prepare another sample. Cromwell would be here soon and she wanted to have yesterdays routine tests on the latest kaiju corpse to be well and over with so she could focus on her own research. Dating drama was relegated to where it usually went: the forgotten recesses of her mind, right beneath the image of bodies crushed beneath a collapsed floor and roof.

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Cause there ain't no rest for the wickeeeeeeeed.