About three hours later, she and Keigo were loading their bags onto the trunk of a large black escalade. They would've left sooner, but neither one of them had packed anything at the army hospital so Keigo had to fly them back home so they could grab their things.
"Nothing left right?" She asked.
"Snacks," he said as he pushed the button for the trunk to close.
"We'll pick up snacks later. Unless you wanna eat nothing but hospital food for the next twelve hours."
"Twelve hours huh? That's a long drive. You sure you're gonna be able to go that long without sleep? You just got out of the hospital."
"I'll be fine Kei. Don't worry," she assured him.
The male pouted slightly, not liking his worry being dismissed so quickly.
Mariko smiled and kissed his lips lightly before getting into the driver's side. Keigo slid into the passenger's seat right after and raised an eyebrow as he saw the car's dashboard. There were more buttons than he'd ever seen on a car spreading across the dash and even the center console. "No wonder they said only some people had clearance."
She smirked as she began to pull out of the parking spot and drive out of the military hospital.
As per the blonde's request, the first thing they did was drive to a convenience store to pick up some snacks. Unfortunately, they took too long in picking out what they wanted because by the time they'd paid for everything it was already late afternoon. At this rate, they wouldn't be getting there until the middle of the night or early the next morning.
The drive itself was actually pleasant. It had been a while since Keigo and Mariko got to be alone. They were always either with someone from the Division or the League and had to keep up some sort of appearance. Now it was just them in the car. Keigo had plugged the aux cord into his phone, deeming himself DJ for the ride. Even though her boyfriend had terrible taste in music, Mariko didn't mind. He had a habit of humming or singing along to whatever was playing and his voice was easily the best sound ever: impossibly smooth, warm, and soft when he wasn't trying to make a joke out of it. It more than made up for the fact that the songs he listened to were actual shit.
The song changed, and the next one was Fly love by Jamie Fox- one of the few good songs he had. Mariko giggled as she heard the opening notes. "Of course, he'd have the Rio soundtrack," she thought.
Keigo looked over, smirking in triumph as he made his girlfriend laugh. He took the hand she had resting on the center console in his, intertwining their fingers as he softly began to sing along.
The brunette glanced over at him, her expression softening when she saw his eyes were already on her.
Wasn't really thinkin', wasn't lookin'
Wasn't searching for an answer..
In the moonlight
When I saw your face.
...
A light smile played at her lips as he sang, serenading her. Surprisingly enough, it was rather rare for Keigo to do something like this. He liked cuddles and kisses and praises and compliments, but he rarely sang in front of her. It was a bit strange because he'd mentioned to her that he liked to sing. What Mariko didn't know- and Keigo would never tell her- was that he was actually self-conscious about his singing voice. He knew it was stupid- his bird-like qualities meant he had a pretty good singing voice after all-but after he'd tried to sing for a previous girlfriend only for her to interrupt him by telling him to "stop squawking" and have sex with her instead, he'd decided to avoid doing it in his future relationships. Mariko was different though; she always smiled whenever he said something. If it was something that would make her happy, he'd take the chance and risk humiliating himself again.
The song ended, and he stared at her, his amber eyes burning holes into the side of her faces as he waited for her reaction. He observed her for changes in posture, breathing, micro-expressions; anything that would indicate she didn't like it. The soft smile stayed in place though, and she sighed peacefully. She squeezed his hand slightly, bringing it to her lips and kissing the back sweetly.
"I love you," she said. "You should sing more often."
His eyes widened slightly, his wings puffing up as his heart skipping a beat. "You liked it that much?" he asked forcing a playful tone into his voice to mask the bashfulness he was suddenly feeling.
She nodded and glanced at him, her smile morphing into a smirk. "Yeah... the shitty songs you pick don't sound as bad then."
He laughed, "My songs aren't shitty."
She shrugged, "They kinda are though Kei."
He smiled, the nickname making him melt all over again. "Ah fuck I'm so whipped its not even funny," he thought.
"I liked that one though. Fly love's a nice song," She said.
"Yeah, it's one of my favorites."
Mariko hummed, pressing another kiss to the back of his hand before letting them drop back onto the center console.
They settled into a peaceful silence that lasted for a few hours. The low hum of the engine as they drove over the highway and Mariko's thumb running over the back of his hand quickly relaxing him enough to go to sleep.