The robot toys Ryusei was into had never made much sense to Rai, although he at least pretended to listen the younger man babble about the latest shiny action figure or whatever it was out of courtesy toward his boyfriend. It just was that Rai himself had gotten past the phase where model planes and such miniatures and figures were 'cool', and it was quite obvious Ryusei had not.

"Oh and did I mention this is the limited edition figure," Ryusei rambled on, and Rai held himself back from replying that yes, Ryusei had mentioned it before. "These things aren't cheap you know. It's a good thing I preordered it the moment the news about this got out three months ago, because all the shops I know that sell these aren't taking more preorders anymore! Can't wait till next week when it's finally released! Then it won't be until long till they ship them and then I'll have it. Shouldn't take more than a few days to-"

The ramble continued, but at that point Rai stopped listening. He stared at the younger man for a second then sighed. "Ryusei?"

"What?" The younger man's expression turned somewhat annoyed. "Oh come on, Rai. Is it that hard for you to at least pretend you're interested, since you were the one who asked what I was so excited about. Oh well, figures you'd get tired of me going on about it. Fine I'll..."

Rai raised his head to cut off his conversation partner and shook his head. "No, it's just that I'd like to point out a slight flaw in all your fanboying," he explained. "I presume that since we're on patrol and stuck on the Hagane currently, you had it shipped home, correct? Certainly, your mother will be there to pick it up for you, but..."

Ryusei looked like he was about to start arguing, but his expression then turned into something between horrified and disappointed. "...Darn it, you're right," he said, defeated. "We're going to be stuck here for at least for a month, aren't we. This sucks, I was looking forward to getting this thing!"

Rai patted the younger man's shoulder. "It'll still be waiting for you when we get back to Izu Base and you go home, won't it? You have real robots to take care of while we're here. I know you've said that R-1 isn't as cool as those Super Robots from your shows, but..."

"I know, I know..." The younger man looked disheartened, but only for a moment. He then turned to Rai and stared at him questioningly. "Hey. Why are you suddenly being so nice about this anyway? It's not really like you at all."

The mood change made Rai chuckle. "What, I can't be nice to my partner once in a while?" He replied with a smirk on his face. "I know you love your robot toys, and while I don't get that level of affection towards something like that... Maybe I actually care about your feelings?"

The younger man didn't look too convinced, but he then shrugged. "Okay, you win. Well, darn. I guess I could send mom a message and ask her to take a few photos when the thing gets there, so I'll have something to look at until we go home. And meanwhile, you get to help me with the R-1's adjustments. Deal?"

Rai shook his head, smiling. "Now you're just taking advantage of me being nice, aren't you? Fine, it's a deal, as long as you help me out with the R-2 later." He had at least managed to get his partner's mind off of the disappointment.

Besides, it turned out he didn't have to worry about that. Ryusei went back to his normal self quite quickly, and Rai found himself having to listen to the younger man convincing him how he needed to watch show the robot was from on the way as they headed off to the hangar.