Due to the climate change these last four hundreds years, not even a Gundam Meister could ever explain why it was raining so suddenly in a sunny day in a sub-tropical island.

Allelujah left the kitchen just to stop before Lockon’s door—since Lockon’s room was the nearest one to the kitchen. He waited for Lockon to open the door and told him that he needed Lockon to watch over his apple pie. Well, there were only a few things that could surprise Allelujah Haptism, and among those few, this kind of rain put itself down on the list. A minute late and Allelujah would have to redo the laundry, Lockon thought amusedly.

So Lockon smiled and said he would, and Allelujah dashed to the open terrace at the back of their hidden base. Lockon didn’t mind, not even when the tasty aroma of Allelujah’s celebrated apple pie greeted his nose as he reached the kitchen, and his stomach growled, reminding him that he had missed lunch. So with Haro’s tailing chirpily behind him, he watched over Allelujah’s apple pie, looking into the oven, counting the seconds, wondering how many minutes he had to watch the very tempting pie. But Allelujah couldn’t answer his question about that because the rain had grown noisily in fat drops.

A series of footsteps came from the hallway, sounding wet and squelchy. Knowing who it would be, Lockon groaned because he just knew that he would have to mop the floor again later. So he yelled, loud, to Setsuna to take off his goddamn wet socks now.

A quiet ‘Hn’ was heard.

Then Lockon’s imagination supplied him with a very nauseating picture of Setsuna’s carrying his wet socks all the way to his room. His stomach almost revolted at the thought, and he yelled again to Setsuna that he had changed his mind and wanted Setsuna to wear his socks still and that he’d better mop the floor after changing his clothes.

It gained him another soft ‘Hn.’

Five minutes later, Allelujah appeared, his hands full of their daily laundry. He shook his head dejectedly, saying that he had to rinse their laundry again. So Lockon would have to watch over his apple pie for ten more minutes.

Setsuna showed up in the kitchen as Allelujah went to their washing machine. Lockon’s first concern was the floor, and Setsuna nodded once, indicating that he had taken care of it. Wanting to appreciate the boy’s effort, Lockon inclined his head towards the only cupboard in the kitchen. “I’m not capable of making something decent to eat, so why don’t you just make yourself hot coffee? Or hot chocolate, perhaps? I think I still have some left there,” he said.

Setsuna did as he was told. As a mug brandishing the initial of Setsuna’s front name—each of them had one like that—was ready with hot chocolate inside, Allelujah returned to the kitchen. The apple pie was ready, too, all the better for Lockon. Setsuna looked at the pie with mild interest, but he did not refuse as Allelujah pushed a piece towards him.

Lockon hummed low in his throat, licking his fingers off the crumbs. “Heaven.”

Beside him, Setsuna gave an affirmative nod.

Allelujah looked very pleased. “Thank you.”

Pausing along his second piece, Lockon said that he hadn’t guessed that it would rain today. And at this rate, they would have to cancel moving the hangars to the other side of the island. Quietly sipping his chocolate a little, Setsuna said that it was unnecessary because Gundams didn’t rust. But then Lockon countered that he wasn’t up for them getting wet. He was also not up for remoping the floor and adding another laundry for Allelujah to do while all Setsuna’s going to do was sitting at the veranda, staring at the rain and wondering how many years it would take to get Exia rusty.

Setsuna snorted against the brim of his mug but said nothing.

Then there was a sudden, loud bang of the front door’s being slammed against its frame. There was no doubt of who would be the guilty party. Sighing, Lockon ran his fingers though his hair. This time, he would really, really have to re-mop the floor.

The three of them did not have to wait too long for the culprit to show himself as a very drenched and very annoyed Tieria Erde appeared in the kitchen with a trail of wet lines behind him, hair plastered to his face, pink cardigan now dingy, deep red and pants partially covered in sand and dirt.

“Nobody said it’s going to rain today,” he hissed.

“Nobody knew it’s going to rain today,” Lockon replied.

Tieria glared at him. “And why do you look so happy about it, Lockon Stratos?”

He shrugged. “Because, you know, I have to mop the floor again, no thanks to you. And for that, you’ve paid.” He smirked at Tieria’s sight. “I wonder if your dear notebook’s alright.”

Allelujah had to hide a smile as Tieria glared more fiercely, because the glare was so out of place with his being soaked to the very tip of his toes. Tieria hmph-ed loudly and twisted around to leave, his hair failing to flail dramatically behind him, while Lockon mumbled aloud that he needed to be reminded again why he put up with the idea of living under the same roof with Tieria.

“Because you’re a sucker for pretty faces?” Allelujah suggested—and was fully backed up by Haro’s happy chirping of ‘pretty faces, pretty faces, pretty faces.’

Lockon gave Allelujah a look. Nonchalantly, Alellujah stood and walked to the cupboard, preparing a mug of coffee for himself and another for Lockon. Lockon had not been able to counter his remark yet when Tieria reappeared, clothes now clean, a towel slung across his shoulders. Then he announced in that familiar holier-than-thou tone of his that he’s going to sleep and nobody waked him up.

Lockon rolled his eyes. “Yes, my lord.”

“And I’m going to sleep in your room.”

Lockon stood up so suddenly that his chair screeched noisily against the floor. Tieria gave him a no-nonsense glare and said that it was because Lockon’s room was the only one in this stupid base that didn’t face the outside, because he didn’t want to see or hear anything that was related to this stupid rain, and Lockon’d better shut his stupid mouth up.

Setsuna coughed not-so discreetly. “That’s the third time the word ‘stupid’ announce itself blaringly.”

Allelujah looked over his shoulder just to comment, “Setsuna F. Seiei, you’re so unfit to be sarcastic.”

All for a good laugh, Tieria flushed heavily, torn between anger and embarrassment, and without a word, he left in wide steps, trotting his way away. Lockon was still laughing his inside out when Allelujah put a mug with the letter ‘L’ on it in front of him that he even had to cough to even his breathing. Allelujah didn’t put any sugar in Lockon’s coffee, because Lockon was the only one among the crew who drank his coffee simple black—while it was milk for Setsuna’s coffee, two blocks of sugar for Tieria’s and one for his.

Finishing his apple pie, Setsuna rose. Since he had nothing to do, he said, he guessed he would lend Lockon a hand. Lockon frowned, but the boy had already disappeared to the hallway. Then Allelujah said that he still had to dry the laundry, so he excused himself, too.

“And the pie?”

“Well, I believe I made enough for four guys.” Allelujah smiled, his smile this time perfectly mirroring the one belonged to Cinderella’s stepsister.

Lockon sighed. He had nothing to do but that now, he supposed. After all, he wasn’t that dense to not notice the signals given by both Allelujah and Setsuna.

Just as he had thought, Tieria had pulled his blanket up to his chin and had his back to the door. Figures, he noted silently. He put his mug and Tieria’s share of apple pie on the night table and sat on the edge of his bed, trying to find a way to begin a conversation.

But Tieria beat him to that. “What do you want?”

So he answered that Allelujah had made enough pie for them all and Setsuna had said that he would take care of the floor. He shrugged, though Tieria would not see it, saying that he guessed all that’s left for him was to be sorry about Tieria’s notebook. He really was, knowing that the notebook was important to Tieria—and also to their mission. Then he rose, patting the small of Tieria’s back. “There’s coffee, from Allelujah. Two blocks of sugar, right? I believe it’ll be a perfect companion to the apple pie.”

At that, Tieria rolled onto his back, looking at the pie and the mug on the night table. The letter ‘L’ on the mug was looking back at him.

“Lockon.”

He paused before the door. “Hm?”

“...Dinner.”

“Alright, alright.” He laughed softly, noticing the half A hint hesitation and half request in Tieria’s voice. “I’ll wake you up later on.”

The rain continued to fall down.

.-.-.-.