#orz maybe i should be a waiter and pick up how to talk to people

[commander-yinello]

The Matchmakers - Part 10

A drabble series I’m working on with @setthestarsxnfire - we wrote this one together! Another long one so more under the cut!

ZEN: Would you just shut up?

Jumin Han: I don’t see why I should.

ZEN: No one cares about your stupid cat. ZEN: I’m sick of hearing about you and that thing.

Jumin Han: Elizabeth the third is not a thing. Jumin Han: She’s my companion. Jumin Han: At least I’m not complaining to everyone about my non-existent love life, like a brat I know.

V: Jumin…

Jumin Han: I, however, do hope that you can find someone who can tolerate your bullshit. Jumin Han: So that you can disappear from this chat and bother them instead. Jumin Han: Let’s be honest, people only care about your looks.

Yoosung★: omg

ZEN: Oh, yeah?

MC: Guys

ZEN: Well, I hope you find someone in your life ZEN: Who’s not in it for the money

Jaehee Kang: O.O

ZEN: But that’s never going to happen. ZEN: You only care about money and that stupid cat.

Jumin Han: Fuck off, Zen.

ZEN: With pleasure. ZEN: I feel sick just being in the same chatroom as you.

707: Holy shit

Jumin Han: The feeling is mutual, I have tolerated a brat for too long.

ZEN: Fuck you, jerk.

- Zen has logged off - - Jumin Han has logged off -

Saeran: What the fuck.

Yoosung★: TnT Why are they fighting now? Did something happen in the photo shoot yesterday?!

MC: No! MC: Or at least, not while we were in the room.

Jaehee Kang: Something must has happened when we were gone, MC…

V: And it was probably quite harsh to get them to carry the fight all over here.

707: Cat mom and prince charming... 707: T_T My otp orz

Jaehee Kang: Let’s discuss this in private.

***

Zen laughed out loud, and he laughed to the point he had to grab the edges of his stomach to try and control his laughter. God, he couldn’t believe that the RFA had bought all that crap, but then again, he was a pretty good actor. And his boyfriend had some actual sass behind his sleeve.

Said boyfriend was sitting at the other edge of the couch, his lips turned into something that Zen could only describe as a pout, how adorable. Now that he had stopped being a stubborn idiot, the albino could finally admit that Jumin Han was really handsome, and he could also be adorable.

“What are you pouting about, Jumin?” He asked, scooting closer to the entrepreneur and resting his cheek against the other’s shoulder. A soft meow was heard, and Zen had to turn a little to see Elizabeth 3rd coming over to greet them.

He was so glad he had taken allergy medicine the night before, when Jumin invited him over to his house after their make out session, and the actor was glad he decided to take the medicine again that morning, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to grab the cat and pet her.

She purred, and Zen smiled, it seemed that she liked him.

“Why are you prince charming and I’m cat mom?” Jumin whispered, and Zen felt him shuffle besides him, making him move so that he could get that comfortable position back. He also couldn’t repress the laughter, Jumin had been pouting about being called a very silly nickname.

He took slow breaths to regain the oxygen he had lost, “It must be because I’m extremely pretty and you love cats. Besides you know Saeyoung, he’s a prankster, and we’ll pull something off for him later.”

“I can agree with the part of you being pretty.” The entrepreneur mumbled, and the smirk that appeared over his face as Zen blushed couldn’t be more of a warning. But Jumin knew self control… kind off. However, he still leaned in, and placed a very chaste kiss over Zen’s lips that left him wanting for more.

“So, the plan is that you call Saeran and I will call Yoosung, right?” He asked, sitting in Jumin’s lap so that the older could also pet the white haired beauty he had as a cat. Elizabeth the third seemed happy with the amount of attention she was getting, and she curled up, falling asleep not even five minutes later.

“That’s what you told me. I will have Saeran meet me at the café Yoosung dragged us to some time ago, and I will purposely set myself a fake meeting today that doesn’t allow me to get there in time, or at all.” Jumin said, focusing his attention on the man in his lap now, since his cat was already tired and sleeping.

“We still have to stalk, I mean, watch them so you better get your ass to be on time after we leave them both alone. I will call Yoosung under the excuse we never talked about the person he liked.” Zen mumbled, pouting a little at the idea of his boyfriend not showing up for the reven- matchmaking.

“Sure thing, love.” Jumin whispered, shuffling even more than before. And the next thing Zen knew, he got the chills due to Jumin kissing over a sensitive spot in his neck.

“Not now, Jumin~” He whined, pulling away from the other’s grasp. He had to keep the marks and bruised to a minimum, make up did cost, and he knew that some would be visible even without the cosmetics.

Curse Jumin Han and his strong grip.

He looked over to where he had left Jumin, and realized that the raven had been staring at him all the time, the familiar pout present in his lips.

Zen was stronger than that, he wouldn’t be able to fall for a simple pout. At all. … Damn.

He sighed, threading his fingers through his silver locks. “Fine, just don’t leave any visible marks, asshole.”

The older smirked, and while Zen was patiently waiting for the things that would happen, he knew they were also trouble. In a way.

***

Yoosung wiggled around nervously in his seat as he waited for Zen to arrive. When the actor called him to apologize and ask if he still wanted to talk about whom he liked, he knew he had to go along or Zen would find out he had lied to him. But what was he going to say? Making up things was easy behind a screen…

Why oh why did he have to use the excuse that he liked someone? He didn’t know what it was like to be deeply in love. It was why he went to Seven’s home and played LOLOL with Saeran instead when he asked Zen to meet Jumin this this very café. They had fun and it made him sad when Saeran retreated back into his cranky shell so now and then, but that wasn’t the same as love! Someone like Zen was bound to see through that right away!

He nearly jumped up from his chair when the familiar white-haired man sat down and waved a hand in his face.

“Wow, you must have it bad if you didn’t see me coming!” Zen laughed, his white coat already across his lap.

Yoosung blushed, and hoped Zen thought it was because of his non-existent crush. “Hi Zen! How have you been?” He said, as cheery as possible.

“Good. Busy, just like you I bet. Lots of dance practice. Glad I’m not doing a shitty commercial at least.” The older man sighed, brushing a hand through his long hair.

Oh, that’s right. The RFA were still trying to get the two older men together. Seeing as Zen started talking about him means Jumin must still be on his mind. This was his chance to find out what happened and at the same time, distract Zen from why he’s here. “What is up with you and Jumin? Why are you guys fighting so much?”

“I don’t want to talk about that pompous jerk.” Zen crossed his arms, face like thunder, cutting off any further conversation. Crap, that didn’t go the way he wanted it to.

The actor was relentless, continuing onto the subject Yoosung wanted to avoid. “Tell me about this person you like. Do they study at Sky University as well? If you know what they’re into, you can try to get to know them better that way.”

“Erm…” Crap crap crap, he really should have made someone up before he came here!

A waitress came by to take their orders and Yoosung tried to stall as long as possible by fiddling with the plastic menu, but when she got annoyed after she asked for the second time if she should come back later, he ended up ordering a latte he didn’t want. Zen looked rather amused for some reason and that made him more nervous.

Maybe he could get inspiration from a random person walking outside. He peered through the large window at people passing by, picking out one that caught his eye.

“Well, they have red hair…” Yoosung started, then trailed off. Red hair? How much of coincidence did it have to be that the person had the same color as the Choi twins?

Wait a second, was that red-haired person walking into the café? He must have stared too long, because Zen turned around as well towards the café’s entrance. Hold on, this wasn’t any red-haired person!

“Saeran?” The blond became super flustered, realizing the person he had associated the color with turned out to be that very person.

The more sober twin raised his eyebrows and went over to them, taking off his leather jacket and putting it on a nearby seat. “I didn’t know you guys were here.”

“I’m giving Yoosung relationship advice. Why are you here?” Zen’s blunt and direct explanation made Yoosung so embarrassed. It was bad enough the first time that his idea didn’t work out - to have the others, especially Saeran who had much better ideas than him, find out he was trying the same thing again made him want to vanish from sight.

If he was red, either no one noticed or no one pointed it out. “Jumin asked me to meet him here, he needs some computer advice and prefers me over Saeyoung, which doesn’t surprise me.”

The mention of Jumin made Zen frown deeply, and Saeran looked like he regretted what he said right away. “Seriously?! That cat freak is coming here? It’s bad enough he harasses me on the messenger all the time, now I have to see him wherever I go?!”

His words made Yoosung flinch. “Zen, please…”

“I swear, that asshole ruins everything. No, screw this, I don’t want to be around him. I’m out of here.” Zen grabbed his white coat and stomped off, not caring for the two young men he left behind.

***

Ah, well that screw up was completely unintentional.

Saeran stared as the albino moved in between the tables, dodging waiters and customers as he stepped out of the building, and the redhead followed him with his gaze until he couldn’t see him anymore.

Saeran had to turn when he heard his companion slump back into his seat, a very tired? Angry? Whatever that was? groan coming from his mouth. Yoosung had his elbow over the desk, and he was leaning against his hand, looking at the menu of the café like he had just lost a very important item in a LOLOL quest.

It was kind of adorable, even if Saeran wasn’t sure why that was the only word that had crossed his thoughts.

“Yoosung?” He pronounced the blonde’s name with hesitation and it may have came out quieter than he intended, but none the less, it made the blonde boy look up at him. The gamer was pouting, looking both angry and sad.

“Yeah?” Saeran could barely hear the response, seeing as Yoosung had whispered it, but he still understood.

Although he wasn’t the best with feelings, Saeyoung was always the brother who could understand things around that area easily. Heck, Saeran hadn’t noticed a girl had had a crush on him for several months until his twin pointed out. “What’s wrong?” He asked, pulling a chair and making sure it was next to his friend, close enough for hugs. Although he hoped there wouldn’t be any hugging, Saeran wasn’t the best with affection.

“It’s just… I don’t know why they’re fighting, and I really wanted them to just… confess you know? They seemed really happy a couple of weeks ago…” The younger started to ramble and ramble, beginning to get worked up about the two members of the RFA now completely hating each other.

By the end of Yoosung’s babbling, the blonde was close to tears, and Saeran would first go to hell if he allowed that to happen. Seeing his friend cry would only make his heart hurt and shatter in pain, everyone knew Yoosung had one of the purest hearts in the RFA and no one wanted him to be sad.

“Yoosung, it’s going to be okay.” Saeran said, refusing to make direct eye contact when the person he was addressing looked up at him. “Just give them time, alright? It’s probably better if they fix this on their own.”

“That’s the problem, Saeran! What if they don’t?” The hacker heard Yoosung sniffing, and that’s when he knew he had to do something otherwise he would officially label himself as the worst friend ever.

“They will. Now, why don’t we go for ice cream? And then we could stop by the arcade… If you’d like.”

From the corner of his eyes, he saw how Yoosung started to grin and bounce like an overexcited child in his seat. The older mimicked his expression, if his friend was happy, so was he.

And then he had to ignore the blush that rose to his cheeks when the blonde pulled him out of the café, holding his hand to look for the perfect ice cream parlor.

***

Across the café, sitting on a bench conveniently hidden by trees in the park, Jumin saw his beautiful boyfriend smirk as Yoosung and Saeran left holding hands. Their revenge plan was well on its way, but all he wanted to do was stare at Zen. Feeling particularly naughty, Jumin brushed Zen’s leg with his own.

“Jumin! Stop getting distracted, we’re on a stakeout, remember?” Zen blushed while trying to see where the younger members of the RFA were going. Interestingly enough, he didn’t move his leg away, which pleased the executive greatly.

“It’s not like we can see them anymore, and they’re pretty much helping themselves.” His fingers trailed over Zen’s hand and dipped into his sleeve, making the actor bite his lip.

“O-Oi babe, we’re in public. Do you want the RFA to find out about us through gossip magazines?”

Jumin chuckled. He couldn’t help it, Zen responded so wonderfully to his touches. To his surprise, Zen took his hand and carefully placed one of his fingertips against his lips, making it trace the soft surface. “Let’s follow them a bit longer to make sure, then we can go to my home.”

His gaze was filled with sexy promises and Jumin nodded quickly, would have agreed to jump off a bridge if Zen had asked him to. As they both stood up, he knew he was hooked to this man. When all this was done, he’d have to thank the rest of the RFA - but not before they executed their plans. The imaginary sight of their shocked faces made him chuckle, causing Zen to shush him while they walked the same way Yoosung and Saeran had.

#the matchmakers #juminzen #jumin x zen #zumin #juzen #zenmin #jumizen #mystic messenger #mysme #fanfiction #drabble #yooran #yoosung x saeran #saesung #these dorks lol #revenge plans

[its-love-u-asshole]

Hi there. I love your writing style of Saruhiko and Misaki. You are definitely my favourite author by far. I was wondering if I could request a Sarumi fic but I am disgusting and want that fluffy, sappy cafe worker and regular customer AU where they eventually end up together with fluffy smut at the end. Kill me this is so lame. Thank you for your time. Sorry for my awkward sense of self, I never have requested anything before.

Ao3 Version

Rating: T

Notes: Hello! Thanks so much for this request, it was super cute and enjoyable to write and ahhh I’m so flattered that you like my writing so much orz I’m honored! I hope you can forgive me…it was really hard to find a place for a nsfw scene in this, so I left it out, but hopefully I can write smut for it in the future! Thanks so much once again!

‘Hey, what do you look like?’

His handwriting was bad today, worse than usual,the black ink smudging in some places from how close his palm was to the felttip of the pen. Yata swallowed thickly as he looked down at the sticky note,watching as his grip threatened to crumble the paper too much, making the wordsillegible.

Fuck, thatwould be his third attempt. He shoved the third sticky note into his pocket,convincing himself that he had the whole rest of his shift to get it right.Growling under his breath, Yata closed his eyes, letting the sounds ofclattering silverware and the chattering of customers fill his ears.

It was nearing the end of the late lunch hours,and service was winding down. Yata had barely clocked in thirty minutes before,catching the end of the rush, but it was by no means over. Soon, workers hungryfor dinner would pour in as well, and the cafe would be bustling once more,loud and smelling of fresh spices and mouthwatering dishes.

It wasn’t as bad as one would think, being the busboyfor a popular cafe. Not to mention, his boss was nice, and the customers wouldoften tip him for being so lively and efficient. Yata didn’t exactlyunderstand, all he was doing was clearing tables and doing the dishes, but hewas thankful. In the beginning it had seemed like an annoying, but easy job,not to mention all his friends worked in the same shopping center, and he couldmeet them after work. It didn’t pay a whole lot, but he worked another parttime job in the morning, and the tips from the cafe along with both checksallowed him to live a comfortable bachelor’s life, so he couldn’t complain.Homra had the best food too, and Kusanagi let him eat however much he wanted!

Still, his job wasn’t his current dilemma…morethe schedule…

The bundle of unused sticky notes in his pocketsuddenly felt a lot heavier.

Frustrated, he circled around the cafe again,picking up plates and wishing the patrons well as they collected their coatsand left. On auto pilot, he picked up the heavy plates of half eaten burgersand dessert pastries, silently scolding people for wasting so much food. Atleast anything in the kitchen which didn’t get eaten, including meals whichwere sent back, got donated to the hungry by Kusanagi.

Throwing the last of the plates into his gray bin,he wrung out one of the clean cloths he kept on hand, and began wiping down thetables. He had a good forty minutes before the dinner rush, maybe Kusanagiwould let him have a piece of cake…

He needed the distraction.

“Something wrong Yata-kun?” A feminine,yet strong voice broke him out of his thoughts, and despite how long he’dworked there, he felt his face flush stupidly as he tried to formulate aresponse.

Awashima waited for him patiently, the onlyindication of confusion being her quirked eyebrow as he knocked into the binbehind him. “A-Awashima-san! I’m fine! J-just, worried about getting allthis done before the rush…ha..ha…” Yata could’ve slapped himself.

“Oh? But you always get everything done in atimely manner. Are you sure?” The blonde inched forward a little, theconcern flashing only momentarily in the clear blue of her eyes.

Damn…

Yata was never a great liar, but lying to girlswas even harder damnit!

Awashima, Kusanagi’s wife, was always soperceptive too, making sure all the employees were in their best of sorts. Itwas another nice thing about Homra in a way, if a worker wasn’t feeling well orwasn’t comfortable for some reason, Kusanagi and his wife were alwaysunderstanding. It made them feel more like friends than superiors, and Yatarespected them with everything he had. Even if Awashima scared him at first…

Not only was she beautiful, but she could bedownright harsh to rude customers or part timers who weren’t giving it theirall. She was nice deep down though, and Yata could hold a decent conversationwith her now, a few stutters aside.

He groaned, shoulders relaxing in defeat as hebegan to scrub at a small stain. “Nothing…I just have…”

Ugh, fuck, this is embarrassing!

He knew Awashima probably already knew what it was, fuck, everyone in hisworkplace knew, even hisother friends knew, and they worked at completely different stores!

Why the blonde was forcing him to say it himselfwas humiliating, but maybe in a way it was good to vent.

“…It’s table four again…” That wasall he managed to say, and to any outsider it probably wasn’t odd, maybe tablefour was where big parties sat, or was harder to maneuver around. But Awashimaunderstood the real issue, a small, amused smile tugging at her lips.

“Ah…did something new happen? He was hereagain today, he looked more tired than usual,” she said with a laugh,following Yata to the next table as he wiped it down. Yata flushed despitehimself, tired huh?Saruhiko had told him he wasn’t one to get much sleep, but Yata wondered whathe actually looked like when he was exhausted. Did he have bags under his eyes?Was his clothing sloppy? What kind of clothes did Saruhiko even wear?

“N-nothing really, just…hey, can’t you guystell me what he looks like alreadu?! C'mon!” Yata bit his lip at his ownoutburst, but damn, it was frustrating! Plus…sometimes when things were onhis mind, he just blurted them out.

“I’m afraid not Yata-chan,” Kusanagi’ssmooth tone drifted into the space, and he casually wrapped an arm aroundAwashima’s shoulders, handing her a clipboard with what Yata guessed hadsomething to do with produce orders. “That would be cheating.”Kusanagi’s smirk told Yata he was having way more fun with his love life thanhe should be.

“But–!”

“Nope.”

Yata wanted to face plant against the table, butit probably wouldn’t have been a good idea, with all the chocolate stains andwhat not. Man, he could really go for some cake…

“Ah, I see you haven’t figured out the dailysticky note yet.” Kusanagi chuckled, watching as Awashima made her wayback to the kitchen. The cafe was mostly empty now, aside from an old couple onthe far side of the room, and the hostess at the front. Douhan hardly ever leftthe post, but Yata just knew she was listening.

Everyone here is so damn nosy!

Ever since that first day…

–

A few months back, Yata had been pissed cominginto work. Someone at his other job had made his life hell, leaving him allkinds of extra work in the construction yard. Yata’s muscles were sore, he wastired, and the last thing he wanted was to bus tables. The rush that night hadbeen especially bad, but it wasn’t what had set him off.

No, in fact, the problem had happened before thedinner hour had begun at all. Table four. Yata rarely cleaned that side of the cafe,but it was his first day switching after a new busboy had been hired to helpout, so now Yata was responsible for the right side of the cafe. No big deal,it was still the same job.

Or at least, he'd thought so. The customer at table four hadalready been gone by the time Yata had clocked in, but his mess was stillvisible, as if mocking Yata, challenging him to pick it up.

What kind of asshole….

The table was littered with notes, the rings ofthe half consumed coffee mug making the papers soggy and plastered to thetable. The papers were crumpled, obviously scratch paper, like someone had comein, done a furious amount of homework, and then had dashed out without a carein the world. The various equations and definitions on the sheets were foreignto Yata as well, maybe math…physics? Whatever, point was, it was messy andtotally inconsiderate!

Yata had grumbled about it the whole time he hadpicked it up, swearing at the mushy paper and ink stains which wouldn’t comeoff his hands. He knew it was his job to clean up, but who was such a dick thatthey left all this for the staff to deal with?!

He was at least raised way better than that.

After he’d successfully cleared it, he wasimmensely relieved, cursing whoever had occupied the table before, and hopingthey never came back.

Yata had never been lucky.

The whole week, the whole fucking week, whenever Yata clocked in,table four was waiting for him, messier than the previous day. Yata wasbeginning to think it was a prank, or some unknown enemy he had picked up onaccident, because that’s how deliberate it looked.

But no…

“Oh, table four?” Douhan looked up fromher list of reservations, preparing for the dinner rush. “It’s the sameguy every day, he comes in all huffy with his backpack, and won’t leave for twohours at least. He doesn’t talk much, and only orders coffee.”

“He’s not the nicest, but he makes my jobeasy,” Chitose voiced, bringing the serving trays out from the back.Chitose was one of his friends, the one who’d gotten him the job in the firstplace, a waiter who seemed to know a lot of questionable things about theregulars. “He doesn’t talk a lot, hell, I don’t even know much about him.Only his order.”

Now, that was weird. Chitose could make anyonetalk with enough prodding, so this guy must really be a piece of work.

Heh, that fits.

The next day, Yata glared at the table, eyetwitching as he noticed more papers, and some leftover pens as well. How uncaring was this guy?

On top of it all, and perhaps what pissed Yata offthe most, was the plate. For once, the guy must’ve ordered food, but from whatYata saw, he might as well have not. The redhead recognized the dish. It was asignature steak, complete with a side of vegetables. Fresh vegetables. Homra put a lot ofeffort into finding good suppliers so all their food was delicious, and this motherfucker…

Most of the steak was eaten, but all thevegetables had been crammed to one side of the plate, like they werecontaminated, some of them spilling off onto the table.

Yata blinked, staring into the void where thetable happened to be, the anger which had built up over the week surfacinguntil–

His impulses took over, and he stomped over toDouhan’s station, not answering her questioning look as he grabbed the stack ofsticky notes she kept there, and trotted back to the table, picking up one ofthe shitty pens the asshole had left behind.

Looking back, it wasn’t his shining moment. Yatahad no right to scold a customer, and he could’ve gotten in a lot of troublefor it, but fuck, he wasso pissed.

Angrily, he scribbled his frustrations down, notreally thinking.

'Excuse me, but some people have to clean upafter you! Who the hell leaves all their homework notes behind??? And how doyou even walk, all you ever order is fucking coffee and now you order steak anddon’t eat the vegetables! Are you dying?’

He grabbed the napkin holder, folding the note andstuffing it into the back of it, leaving only one edge sticking out.

For a brief moment, Yata’s anger cleared, and hethought maybe he shouldn’t be doing this. After all, if anyone looked hardenough, they could find the note, and he’d get in trouble, or the guy he wastargeting would report him too. Or maybe, no one would find it, and it’d sit inthe holder forever.

He exhaled suddenly, the tension flooding out ofhim. Right, this is stupid…

He should know better, he wasn’t some kid anymorewho could fight the world whenever he wanted. He had bills to pay and rules tofollow, and as much as he hated it, he’d try his best to keep a level head.Yata reached forward slowly, about to tug on the edge of the bright yellowpaper sticking out and discard the note for good. It wasn’t worth it in theend, he reasoned. Though, it would’ve been nice to give the table four guy agood scolding for all the trouble he’d caused.

Whatever, it’s not that big of a deal.

At that exact moment, the door whooshed open, andYata realized in terror how much time he’d wasted. Forgetting about the note,he rushed to pick up the last of the main room, and waited for the dinner rushto begin.

–

The next day was the same as usual, except whenYata walked up to the dreaded table four, there was a note.

A boring one, different from the bright yellowbear and animal shaped ones which Douhan kept. It was square, and a light blue,so simple, yet it froze Yata in his tracks.

Shit.

So that's what he’d forgotten. Yata feltpanic and relief all at once. Panic, because man, he seriously prayed no oneelse had walked by before he’d arrived and seen the note first. Relief, becauseboth bosses had greeted him happily on his way in, meaning that they had noknowledge of the note, and that table four guy hadn’t complained.

At least he’s trying to resolve this betweenthe two of us.

Yata almost felt guilty. He’d been in a bad mood,and had raged at an unsuspecting customer. A sloppy, obviously inconsideratecustomer, but still a customer.

He shook it off, approaching the note, so thewording became clearer, and hoped he could move on after reading the guy’sapology.

Only it wasn’t an apology.

There, scrawled in neat, almost femininehandwriting, were two phrases, ones Yata would never forget, and all sense ofguilt or amity flew right out the fucking store window.

'It isn’t my fault you can’t do yourpathetically easy job. Fuck you.’

This…

“This asshole!” Yata’s grip on the notewas fierce, and he threw it roughly into the garbage, seething from deep withinhis soul.

No. No way am I gonna take that!

For the second day in a row, he stormed over toDouhan, who didn’t even glance up from her magazine as he took a bundle ofsticky notes. These ones were duck shaped, not the most intimidating, but theywould have to do. He scribbled as fast as he could, aware that he should reallystart getting shit done, his handwriting twelve times sloppier than the guy’s.Somehow, it pissed him off even more.

'Fuck you! At least I was raised with mannersand shit! Fucking come say that to my face you dick!’

Yata had jammed the note into the holder, itchingfor a response.

–

That had been how it all started, and now he washere. Yata groaned, scrubbing a little too hard at a stain, threatening to peelsome of the paint off the table’s surface. He glanced up at Kusanagi with anunamused expression, thinking back to his comment.

“I figured out the sticky note for todayokay! It’s just embarrassing!” Yata glared at his boss, watching as theother was obviously enjoying his pain.

“Hey, you brought this on yourself,”Chitose’s voice lingered from the kitchen, and soon after, he stepped out, nolonger in his uniform. Chitose was off work, soon to be replaced by anotherserver, and Yata envied him as he began to waltz towards the exit. “Youwrote him first. You really suck at flirting, in fact, the both of youdo.”

Yeah. He couldn’t argue with that. It wasn’t likeYata had been trying to flirt in the first place though damnit! It hadjust…happened.

Fushimi Saruhiko. That was table four guy. Yatalearned the name after about a week of their feud. After their first exchange, Saruhikohad made it his mission to mess up his table as much as possible, seeminglyfueled by his spite for Yata. The redhead had cursed him all along the way, andtheir correspondence increased rapidly over the next few weeks purely out ofshared pettiness.

It started off as expected: insults. Saruhiko wassurprisingly witty and clever with his comebacks, which only served to increaseYata’s anger with every work day.

'As if I’d want to fight a cafe worker. Maybe Ican’t, for all you know I could be some old man who you’re harassing.’

'Cut the crap! Your homework has universityclass headers! You can’t be that old!’

'Ah, snooping are we? And commenting on my dietearlier, you must genuinely care.’

'You better hope I never see your stupidface on the street!’

'Even if you did, it’s not like you’d know.’

That conversation haunted Yata more now,considering Saruhiko had been right. They’d been talking through sticky notesfor almost two months, Yata knew all sorts of facts about the other, but whatSaruhiko actually looked like was still a mystery, and the worst part was, hewas the only one in the dark. All his morning coworkers, his bosses, they all knew.

It’s not like it would’ve mattered, if it hadn’tbeen for the fact that Yata, somewhere in between those exchanged insults,which had then turned into casual questions, and then small talk, hadcompletely developed a crush by accident.

How fucking lame.

It wasn’t like he could help it. He’d learned asurprisingly amount of stuff about Saruhiko, and in return had shared a goodamount of stuff about himself. Maybe it was stupid, after all, Saruhiko wastechnically a stranger, but…

Yata smiled to himself as he wrung out a new rag,bits and pieces of conversations running through his head in a split second. Hethought about each note, each topic and fact he’d learned about the other boy,all leading up to the very last one he’d had.

'Hey, how come you never come eat dinner oranything here? You come every day for lunch.’

'Do you want me to?’

Yata nearly dropped the utensils he’d beenpicking up as a flush spread out across his face. Fuck, thank god Saruhikowasn’t actually at Homra, Yata was mess today…

Yata stared at the singular question, bitinghis bottom lip, because really, the answer was obvious. Of course, he wantedSaruhiko to come when he was actually working. Yata wanted to see him, talk tohim in person, maybe…

Yata shut that train of thought down as fast ashe could, and instead shakily wrote out his response.

'Well…yeah, don’t you want to?’

It might’ve been lame, but what did Yata have tolose? He was pretty sure his feelings were obvious anyways…right? Could thosethings even come across in such little notes? Sure, sometimes they’d use up twoor three for their responses, almost like letters, if the conversation neededit, but was that enough?

Yata tried to reason with himself that if itwasn’t obvious, if Saruhiko asked, he’d have to spill his guts. Then…ifSaruhiko rejected him, there’d be no real problem, because they didn’t knoweach other and would never have to cross paths.

Yata swallowed thickly at the thought though.No, that wasn’t true. He didn’t know what Saruhiko looked like, the color ofhis eyes, the style of his hair, but he knew he liked video games, and hatedparties, and his hobby was graphic design, and he seldom slept well, and awhole bunch of other shit which made him feel close to the other.

Yata snapped back to the present when Chitosecontinued to talk to him. “You know Yata, you don’t exactly have to worry.That guy comes in and the first thing he does is read your note and respond, hedoes it before he even gets his coffee! That guy practically lives off thatshit too…”

Yata’s hands tightened around the rag, the watersloshing out over the table he’d been cleaning way too long, and a spike ofhappiness nearly knocked him into oblivion.

Saruhiko…was excited to talk to him.

“So, yeah,” Chitose said breezily,waving goodbye as he headed out the door. “He’s into you, so write yourdamn response and ask him out already!”

Kusanagi chuckled beside him, flipping through thepaperwork he held as he shot Yata a knowing look, and headed to the other sideof the cafe.

Ask him out…

Part of Yata wondered if it was too soon, if therequest would be too sudden, but then there was that knowledge from before. Heknew Saruhiko, not fully, but…

He knew Saruhiko was smart. That was the firstthing he’d discovered.

–

One day, Yata hauled himself through the cafedoors grumpily, pinning on his name tag and carrying his bin over to tablefour, same as every day, expecting the usual smart ass note. He’d gotten one ofcourse, a response to his last, and a bit longer than usual, taking up almostthe whole sticky note.

'I don’t do my homework here because I want to,it’s just quieter, but you sound obnoxious, so maybe you just don’t knowanything about that concept. I like getting my homework done all at once, it’sa pain if I wait.’

Yata glared down at it, pulling out his ownpack of notes (which he now kept in his pockets, as one does when engaged in anote war with a rude son of a bitch) in preparation for his reply. Somethingstopped him that day though. He looked over mid-sentence, seeing a stack ofpapers which stood out from the usual notes and scribbles Saruhiko tended toleave behind.

They seemed more important somehow, and begrudgingly, Yata scooped them up,intent on putting them in the lost and found. Upon closer inspection, hefigured out they had been a few of the other’s past exams, physics from whatthe headers said, and Saruhiko had scored high. 

Like, impossibly high. And shit, it was prettyamazing.

He’d stared at them for a good two minutes,going over the information on each page, the difficult concepts whichSaruhiko’s nice writing seemed to answer quickly and efficiently, like anexpert, and Yata couldn’t help but be impressed.

All previous comebacks and taunts left hismind, and he’d written one question on the small square for the day.

'Hey, you scored almost perfect on yourtests! What do you study?? That’s so cool!’

It was only later that Yata raced back to thetable before closing, and added something to the end.

'For a jerk anyways!’

Saruhiko had ended up being a double major, inphysics and biology, and Yata wondered how he wasn’t dead. Saruhiko had seemedshy at first to answer Yata’s questions about university life, but after awhile, most things were fair game. Saruhiko liked his professors well enough,but he thought his campus was too crowded. Saruhiko got good grades (somethinghe’d only admitted after a lot of prodding on Yata’s part), and his Tuesdaysand Thursdays were the busiest.

'What about you?’

It was the third week of their correspondencewhen Saruhiko asked him his first question, and for whatever reason, it madeYata’s heart stop for a millisecond, and he’d paused before reading the rest ofthe note.

'You don’t go to school or anything?’

“Ooo, what are you gonna say?”Chitose’s voice came up behind him, and Yata all but had a heart attack,jumping back and hitting his hip against the table, all the while Chitose wenton as normal. “That must be kinda embarrassing…but don’t worry!”

Yata’s annoyed look morphed into confusion, andhe blinked at his friend. “Huh…embarrassing? Why?”

Chitose must’ve realized right then that he’dstepped on a land mine, because he waved his hands in front of him immediately.“N-nothing! Just tell him whatever you were gonna tell him!”

The damage was done though, and Yata wasnervous. Still, he wasn’t a liar…

'No…I dropped out of high school becauseit rlly wasn’t for me you know? I work though! My jobs aren’t for smart peopleI guess ha, but I’m glad I have them!’

Yata tried not to sound too defensive, but hecouldn’t help it. He didn’t want Saruhiko to think he was dumb (if he didn’talready), and the rest of the day and the next was filled with a strange new anxiety.

The next day, he’d gone to table four, and therest of his shift, his coworkers were concerned his face was stuck in apermanent grin.

'You have a job, so what does the rest matter?’

After that, it had been easy to tell Saruhiko allhis work stories, all his encounters with mean customers and dumb jokes fromthe break room. Saruhiko asked him more questions than before, stuff about ifhe liked working in a restaurant, and if it made him sick of the food.

It was so weird, being able to talk to Saruhiko sonaturally. By the end of the first month, Yata knew he just clicked with theother, and damn it, he wasn’t going to let that slip by. Though…

Getting the more personal details out of Saruhiko,it had been more of a challenge, but Yata never backed down from those. 

'You must study a lot, when do you have timefor fun? Hanging out with friends and stuff…All my friends work in thiscenter, so it’s awesome!’

'Fun? Most of the people I talk to areclassmates, so I see them often. I don’t dislike them I guess.’

Yata smirked at that. Saruhiko was so hesitantat admitting things sometimes, Yata could tell from his writing alone.Basically, in Saruhiko speak, he did indeed have friends, and he probably likedthem a lot.

Yata didn’t exactly know where to start withthe response. He had so many questions. What were Saruhiko’s friends like? DidSaruhiko act different around them? Did he have a lot? What did they dotogether?

There was so much he wanted to know, it waslike he was playing catch up. He was jealous of people who already knewSaruhiko, who got to be around him all the time…

Eventually, Yata calmed down, and figured thetopic of friends would be a long conversation and was better saved for later.Besides, what he wanted to know most of all…

'You don’t have anything else you like todo? I play video games when I get home! I also like action movies n stuff. Dou? What are your faves??’

Yata was excited to know. Small details, bigdetails, whatever Saruhiko would offer. It was after that reply that he’d begunto start day dreaming. Maybe he and Saruhiko could go see movies together, ifthey liked the same kinds. Or maybe Saruhiko could come to his apartment andthey could play video games, Saruhiko would probably be good at the strategyones…

He’d bolted into the cafe the next day, hardlyremembering to shrug on his apron as he walked briskly to the table which he’dcome to hate less and less each day.

His heart raced when he realized he’d been leftfive notes, small paragraphs, and he wanted to jump for joy.

'I guess, I like those things too.’

It was shortly after, in between the movieanalyses and talking about their game collections, that Yata knew he likedSaruhiko more than just a friend.

–

Yata began to look forward to each new note, nomatter how brief. He grew excited, thinking about the papers of physics noteswith little doodles and messages about how to beat certain bosses in the newestgame they both owned. Yata was so lame, he was even happy about picking upSaruhiko’s half empty coffee cup, still warm and serving as a reminder thatyes, Saruhiko was real, and he’d only just missed him. Yata would run from hisfirst job, eager to see what Saruhiko had left him in the shoddy napkin holder.Yata would daydream at his morning job, dream that maybe if he ran fast enough,he’d catch Saruhiko before he left and they’d finally meet.

No such luck so far.

Yata finished cleaning the last table just as thefirst party showed up for the beginning of the dinner rush, and he realized itwas now or never.

He didn’t think he had enough confidence to askSaruhiko out quite yet, plus…part of him wanted to do something like that inperson, as cheesy as it was.

“Welcome to Homra, how many thisevening?” Douhan’s level voice carried through the cafe, alerting the waitstaff and cooks to get ready, and Yata made his decision. He still had one morequestion he wanted to ask, no matter how humiliating it was, no matter how muchSaruhiko might laugh at him for it.

Walking over to table four, Yata gently pulled outSaruhiko’s last note to him.

'I can’t come at dinner time until my semesteris over, my classes run late, by the time I’m out, the cafe is closed.’

Yata’s breath catches again, as it had the firsttime he read it, as his eyes drifted to the second half of the note. 'Otherwise, I would.’

He would come see me if he could. Once thesemester is over, Saruhiko can come see me.

It’s all the motivation he needed really, as he tookout his pen and the dumb stack of duck shaped notes.

'I’m glad you can come at all, I want youto. Btw Saruhiko–’

The crowds start to flood in, and Yata took in adeep breath.

’-what do you look like?’

–

As Yata sat in bed after a long day, he foundhimself wondering what the fuck compelled him to ask that question. It probablylooked super weird, maybe even pervy, and he was cursing himself once again.

It was too late though, he’d done it. That dumbnote was sitting in the napkin holder right now, unable to be retrieved or tornup. Saruhiko was going to read it, and the realization made Yata giddy andnauseated all at once.

He wanted to know, he wanted to know so much ithurt. He wanted to put a face to the name, make his daydreams less hazy.Saruhiko had to be handsome, it didn’t matter if it was in the traditionalsense or not. Saruhiko would be handsome to Yata, there was nodoubt. Yata had theorized before, and it was fun, but there was no beating thetruth. At the thought, he laughed to himself, clutching his pillow a littletighter as a few memories crossed his mind.

'Ur a real piece of shit. You should rllyeat better…and stop leaving ur shit on the table!’

Saruhiko had left another plate of vegetablesabandoned that day, and Yata glared. The homework he’d gotten used to, withmost of his initial anger about it gone, but the food was something which hadcontinued to bother him.

'I don’t like vegetables. What do you care?’

'I don’t know, all you drink is coffee, andif you don’t eat vegetables, who knows what kind of shit you’re eating atdinner time!’

'How sweet of you, but I’m alive, so no need tonag me.’

Looking back at those few days of exchanges, Yatasmiled fondly. Saruhiko was probably some skinny guy, that much he could guess.Then there was also the other annoying detail…

'I could totally take you! I’m tougher thanI look!’

The proclamation had ended up being a mistake.

'Oh? Are you on the smaller side then? How tallare you, Misaki?’

A few days and some embarrassed insults later,Yata found out how tall Saruhiko was.

What a bastard…

That was it though. Saruhiko was tall, probablyskinny, and always looked tired (according to his co-workers). Yata had anagging feeling that he didn’t smile much either, but it somehow seemed to fit.

As gone as Yata was, he couldn’t help but beannoyed that the only thing Saruhiko knew about his appearance was his height.

–

“Um…Yata-kun, aren’t you going to readit?”

Awashima’s voice sounded miles away, but even thenhe could hear the light teasing there, and it became a bit clearer as to whyshe and Kusanagi were perfect partners after all.

“Uh, why?” Yata winced at his own stupidquestion.

“Well…it’s quite obvious you want to,”she tried again, tapping her pen against the table’s surface. “You’ve beenhere quite a while.”

She had a point. Yata had been standing in frontof table four for way too long, staring at the napkin holder with sweaty palmsand a flushed face as the corners of the same, plain blue note stuck out.

Fuck.

There it was, the excitement pooling in his gut.Would Saruhiko indulge him, would he finally know? Or would he be made fun ofor called weird? Would this be the last note he ever–

“Yata, you still have six more tables,”Douhan’s calm voice called from the hostess stand, and it was enough to snaphim out of it. Though they could be a little too perceptive for Yata’s comfort,he was thankful for his female co-workers, if only because they helped him geta grip.

Right, I have to read it now or wait untilafter dinner, and hell no am I doing that!

Carefully, he reached forward, tugging at the foldof paper. It was only one note, not the usual three or four, so he already feltdread as he unfolded it, the neat words revealing themselves.

All anxiety was replaced with relieved amusement,and Yata didn’t know whether to be pissed off or over the moon.

'I don’t know. Normal I guess. Why?’

God, if that wasn’t such a Saruhiko thing to say.

He started laughing, which must’ve concernedAwashima, because she reached to pluck the note from his hands, reading it inconfusion.

“He’s an odd one.”

Yeah…

When his chuckles finally subsided, Yata feltready to work, deciding to leave his response for after his shift was over.

He was in a good mood throughout the dinner rush,and actually ended up receiving a few tips from customers who found hispresence refreshing when he went out to help with large parties. All the while,Saruhiko’s note was on his mind.

Yata couldn’t believe he’d expected anything different.Saruhiko, the same shy Saruhiko he’d been talking to, wouldn’t just give him anall-out description of his fashion sense, of his eye color, his face shape.Hell, he probably hadn’t even considered it, and it made Yata grin whenever hethought about it.

What a loser.

Sometime in the midst of his rounds, he droppedoff his reply, and this time he couldn’t wait for Saruhiko’s.

'No! I meant what do you LOOK like? Youdumbass. I want to kno that shit, don’t you?’

The next day, Yata was on cloud nine.

'Of course, don’t be dumb.’

–

There had been some resistance even after that,Saruhiko was obviously too humble, but after Yata had looked at his own self inthe mirror (which had been painfully awkward and sorta weird to do alone in hisown apartment for longer than a few minutes), and told Saruhiko hisobservations with little embellishment, Yata had gotten what he wanted.

He bit his lip, clocking into work after his breakand letting the thoughts flood him.

Saruhiko was tall. Lanky and tall. He had blue eyes, and his skin was light and pale.Saruhiko styled his hair with gel, the brown swoops would otherwise sit flat onhis head apparently, which annoyed him greatly. Saruhiko wore a lot of hoodiesand jeans, and he also sported simple, black framed glasses.

With each detail, the blurred image in Yata’s headbecame clearer and clearer, though it was never enough.

The taller’s eyes probably stood out brightlyagainst his skin, the glasses heavy and managing to hide the bags of exhaustionunder Saruhiko’s eyes. Saruhiko’s hair was probably long enough to thread hishands through it, Yata would probably have to push off his feet a bit to be eyeto eye, to kis–

“Yata, table three!”

“R-right!”

Every 'probably’ in his head multiplied, but ashappy as it made him, he wasn’t sated.

I want to see him.

He wanted every 'probably’ to become 'actually.’

–

'I want to see you for real now.’

'There’s not much to see.’

…

'Saruhiko, ur an ass but I think I reallylike you.’

'You’re obnoxious, but I probably like you too.I can’t explain it otherwise, it’s annoying.’

'Explain what?’

'Why I think about you.’

…

'Have you ever kissed anyone before? Ihaven’t but I bet I wouldn’t be that bad heh…’

'Mm. You probably wouldn’t be. I don’t knowabout me though. It doesn’t look too hard. It’s stupid.’

'Well pft I’d help or whatever.’

–

It was another month of replies later, and it wasthe last week of university instruction. Not that Yata had looked it up oranything…no way.

The conversations with Saruhiko had gotten moreand more intimate, to the point where Yata would wake up with…problems, andhe’d get distracted at work more often.

He got made fun of, of course. He was pretty sureEric (the perv) had peeked at more than a few notes, and Chitose had shot himknowing glances across the room more times than he could count. Douhan andAwashima also felt the need to update him every day now, which he was secretlygrateful for.

'He blushed today, I’ve never seen him do that,what did you tell him?’

'He actually smiled, it was unreal.’

'He cleaned up after himself when he spilled hiscoffee. He looked pretty determined to keep the table clean.’

Though all the teasing and implications werehumiliating, it couldn’t stomp out the overall ecstasy he was feeling as theweeks went by, and now…

'My last final is Thursday afternoon.’

The week couldn’t go by any slower.

He dropped about five plates over the next fewdays, bumped into tables one too many times, and Kusanagi had scolded him quitea bit more than usual. He couldn’t help it, he was distracted.

Saruhiko was going to come eat dinner on Thursday.Saruhiko was going to be there when Yata was working. Saruhiko was going tomeet him.

Rumor spread in the cafe pretty damn quickly,which only served to make Yata twenty times more nervous.

What if Saruhiko changed his mind, or didn’t likewhat he saw? What if they had nothing to talk about in person?

Shit, I’m screwed. Why am I being such a kidabout this?

“Yata.”

Douhan’s light voice made Yata jump, clutching hischest as he turned to see her in the doorway of the break room, calm and maybea bit put off from the noise.

“Uh…s-sorry. What is it?”

Wordlessly, she closed the distance, pulling outan object from her bag and handing it to him, before turning back and out thedoor.

Right before she left for good, she turned, aneasy grin on her usually impassive face. “He left it for you today.”

Yata’s eyes widened, flying to the item in hishand, only to see it was the newest game for the console only Saruhiko owned. Yatahad the older model, so he was confused at first, to say the least. There wasanother note on top however, a smaller one, but it was everything to Yata.

'It’s a quick game, maybe on Thursday, you cantry it out at my place to see if you want to borrow it. Something tells me someoneas brash as you would need help anyways.’

A shiver ran throughhim, and Yata stupidly clutched the note in his hand, rushing to the employeeroom to put it somewhere safe, as if he was imagining it and wanted prooflater.

Saruhiko was such a dick, but he was also awkwardand shy and had totally invited Yata over, and the redhead’s anxiety quicklyspun into anticipation.

–

The last note he left Saruhiko was on Wednesdaynight.

'I’ll see you at dinner you loser.’

–

Thursday’s dinner shift was one of the worst inhistory, and while Yata wasn’t one for superstitions aside from the occasionalparanormal shit, he was pretty convinced the shift had been littered with badomens.

First, a spill at table six, which had left hissweater completely covered in some screaming kid’s root beer. Yata handled itlike a champ, not letting his discomfort show until he’d calmed the boy downwith another soda and a replacement coloring set and made his way to the back.

He’d worn one of his nice hoodies, one with lesstears and unraveled threads. He may have worked as a busboy, and no doubt hisclothes got dirty with each shift and he smelled like dish water, but damnit,if he wasn’t going to try and make some kind of impression on the guy he’d beeninterested in for months!

Sadly, the plan had failed, though he couldn’t saythe plain white long sleeve he had on under his sweater was that bad. He’d just have to becareful…

That plan had also been flushed straight down theshitter.

One of the newer employees had also managed to letthe mop sink in the back overflow, and Yata had been the one to clean it,effectively soaking through his shoes and socks.

The most recent issue, the dreaded Burger Incident(Chitose had already given it a name, ha fucking ha), was still sitting heavyon his shoulders (and on his shirt).

Who knew slipping on a slightly under cooked pattywould lead to a near death experience.

Yata sighed heavily as he cleared yet anothertable, trying his best to keep on a neutral expression as the chaos of thedinner rush continued around him.

Then…there was the biggest disappointment.

It was halfway into the rush, and still noSaruhiko. Yata tried to reason through it as best he could, but he’d never beenthe particularly patient type.

He’s just running late.

There’s still two hours left.

He wouldn’t forget.

He wants to see me.

But as he looked to the door, where new familiesand business executives kept coming through, he felt his heart sinking.

“Excuse me.”

Maybe he’s just…

“Excuse me sir!”

Yata was jolted back to his senses by the sound ofa woman from two tables down, and it was obvious her irritated stare wasdirected at him. Yata straightened immediately, making his way over and lettinghis customer service persona consume him as best he could. He wasn’t a server,but Kusanagi always said it was everyone’s job to assist patrons.

With his usual grin and unsuspecting optimism,Yata waited for whatever the woman had to say, trying not to take it toopersonally when she didn’t even face him when she was speaking.

“Yes, if you could, would you find my waiter?He can’t even take a proper food order it seems, I asked for seasonedvegetables, not rice, and I wanted this steak well done.”

In his head, Yata’s alert system goes offimmediately, because really, this is how most 'awful customer’ situationsbegin, and he knows he has to diffuse it as quickly as possible.

Since it was table nine, it was most likelyChitose’s, and luckily the other could talk his way out of most situations. Hewas probably ringing someone up…

“Ah, I’m really sorry about that m'am! Let mejust find him and take this back to the kitch–”

“How difficult is it really? I was very clearwith my order, I expect him to be properly dealt with.”

And that’s when Yata tenses.

Uh oh.

Douhan’s green irises flashed in his directionfrom where she was seating another party, and they seemed to echo the samerealization.

It’s one of those. This is bad. Abort mission.

'One of those’ usually meant a rather intensecustomer, someone who complained about little things, and simultaneously putdown the staff. They were never fun, and Yata had seen it from afar, butdealing with it himself was terrifying.

“Again, I apologize, I’ll take care of it andget you a new meal as soon as possible!”

Please leave it at that. Please leave it atthat.

She doesn’t.

“My dinner should be free at this point, canI speak to the manager?” The lady is looking at him now, finally, sincebefore she’d only been scowling at the drinks menu as if she was above lookinghim in the face. Her eyes roamed over him, once, and then once more, slower thesecond time, until her nose crinkled up in dissatisfaction. It seemed she’dfinally noticed.

Yata didn’t really have to guess what she wasgoing to say, he’d often been given snooty looks from customers, it just camewith his job. Sometimes, no matter how nice or genuine he was about his hardwork, people couldn’t see past the rolled up sleeves and stains on his apron.But, it never failed to make him sick either way.

“Oh. Yes, I absolutely will need tospeak to a manager. What a waste of breath, I doubt a busboy could help me inany–”

“It’s odd that someone who’s already eatenmore than half their meal would have any complaints,” a smooth, low voicecut through the air between Yata and the customer, and only then did Yatarealize someone was standing next to him. For whatever reason, he felt hisentire body shiver, like it had registered something before he had.“You’re disturbing the other people here with your nonsense, myselfincluded.”

The woman sputtered, overcome with theembarrassment of other people’s eyes on her, but Yata didn’t care at all abouther regrets about making such a fuss, because as soon as he turned to his side,he was practically blindsided.

He was looking at the other man’s waist first,because he was holding something out for Yata to take, and the redhead graspedfor it dumbly. Menus…

“A server forgot to collect these from mytable, so here,” he said, and fuck that voice was so smooth. Yatanodded, basically too busy to process the fact that the menus were supposed tostay at the table anyways,and finally looked up into the face he’d been dreaming about for months.

The rest of the conversations around him might aswell have been nonexistent, his body on autopilot as he began to move away whenKusanagi came to take over the disturbance. Yatawas too blown away, couldn’t even make himself turn back to the customer as shemuttered out an embarrassed apology, because fuck, he would know those eyes in frontof him anywhere.

Blue, sharp, like the calm in the wake of a stormat sea, threatening to drown him with one step into its depths.

He’d never seen them before, but he knew.

There was no mistaking the intensity of the gaze,the way his face was framed by the messily styled hair, the slightly concealedbags underneath his glasses…

Yata knew exactly who it was, would’ve known himin the largest of crowds or most muddled of spaces.

He had been right, Saruhiko was handsome, but moreso than Yata had expected, or knew how to handle. His back hit the far wall bythe entrance to the kitchen, distanced a bit from the dining area, struck withthe exciting observation that Saruhiko had fucking walked him backwards over to somewhere moreprivate, maybe without noticing too, judging from how those calculating eyes weretaking Yata in as well, soaking in every detail, and the redhead could onlyhope Saruhiko was as pleased as he himself was.

God I probably look and smell like shit…butSaruhiko is…

“Wow…” It slipped out before Yata couldstop himself, and he straightened quickly when Saruhiko’s eyes snapped up tomeet his, and Yata could see the other swallow and fuck I can’t do this.

But then the moment in time resumed, and all thesounds of the dining room and laughter flooded back to Yata’s ears with oneclick of Saruhiko’s tongue. The taller glared at the ground, avoiding Yata’sgaze as he shoved his hands into his pockets.

“Wow yourself…” Saruhiko mutteredshyly, the faintest hint of a blush sweeping acrosshis cheeks, and Yata was pretty sure he was gonna marry this stupid jerk.“I hope that’s not all you can say.”

Ah yeah, this was definitely Saruhiko. 

“Shut up! You know it’s not!”

“Well obviously you can write,” Saruhiko replied,his lips upturning in a slight smirk which Yata couldn’t help but return.“But who knows?”

“What?” Yata’s eyes were challenging nowhe was sure, and he was grateful that they were pretty much hidden from view,only servers walking by would be able to see how close they were, how Yata wasstaring between Saruhiko’s lips and eyes because he couldn’t decide which oncewas better. “You think I’m an impostor?”

“No,” Saruhiko’s answer was quick,cutting almost, and the urge to kiss him intensified about twenty times more.

No, it would be too soon…right?

Maybe the whole thingwas going too fast, but Saruhiko was so easy to engage with, the words wouldn’tstop, and it didn’t help Yata’s urges. Calm down…

But then he remembered the months ofconversations, of exchanging fucking letters essentially, and all the dumbthings he knew about the other. Saruhiko’s daily routine, the classes he took,how he liked his coffee, his favorite movies and video games, and then suddenlyit didn’t seem too soon at all.

Fuck…no no…we haven’t even done properintroductions, he just showed up! I should shake his hand or…talk aboutsomething else…yeah uh–

“There’s no way it’s not you,” Saruhikocontinued, voice lowering as if he was trying to make it as inaudible aspossible. “You’re better than I pictured.”

The 'maybe I should kiss him’ in Yata’s headinstantly became 'I definitely will.’

Yata shakily raised his hands to Saruhiko’s shirtcollar, because thehell with handshakes, and he flushed furiously, trying not to seem like atotal loser as Saruhiko stepped even closer into the touch, lips parting.

Hell…

He seriously hoped no one would come by to watchhim tremble like a teenager with his first kiss, but that’s what it felt like,and it was exciting and he wanted it more than anything.

“U-uh…w-well I’m gonna–”

“Yeah,” Saruhiko cut him off, and theyboth leaned in, their lips crashing together in a kiss Yata had waited way too long for.

Saruhiko’s skin was cold from the outside air, buthis breath was hot against Yata’s face as they tentatively pulled back everynow and again, only to curiously push forward to press their mouths backtogether. Each peck seemed innocent, closed mouthed and experimental, yet therewas nothing slow about the kisses. They were hungry, quick, light smackingbeing created as a result, and Yata felt like he could fly if he tried.Saruhiko smelled like peppermint and coffee with just the slightest edge ofhair product thrown in, and Yata breathed in greedily as Saruhiko’s hand pulledhim closer.

It was only when Yata heard a triumphant 'yes!’ beingyelled from the kitchen, followed by an 'ow,’ did Yata break away inembarrassment.

His face was impossibly red, but he still managedto throw open the kitchen door to glare at Chitose, who was holding his sidefrom where Awashima had jabbed him. Right, Yata had forgotten about the smallwindow in the kitchen’s door. He hadn’t even thought Chitose would considerpeeping through it either. The older man had no sense of shame though, simplythrowing Yata a thumbs up before the door shut again.

Yata needed to pay more attention to hissurroundings. He groaned, hiding his face in his hands while Saruhiko took afew steps away.

He’d gotten carried away, but considering howgreat of a fucking kiss that had been, he couldn’t regret it too much.

“U-um…we should uh…maybe…” Yatastuttered uselessly, eyes meeting Saruhiko’s again and rendering speech moreimpossible than before.

Fuck it.

He thrust his hand out awkwardly, nearly jabbingSaruhiko in the stomach with the action, and watched as the taller stared atthe outstretched hand in confusion.

“Yata Misaki, nice to finally meet you.”

It was stupid, since they’d just fucking kissed, and had learned eachother’s names months ago, but it was the best Yatacould do.

The silence between them was starting to get tohim though, his hand beginning to shake as he awkwardly kept it in front ofhim, and he was torn between laughing it off as a joke or simply jumping offthe nearest cliff.

But then there was a smooth hand slipping intohis, grasping firmly in what was probably the most unnecessary handshake ever,and Yata sighed with obvious relief. Saruhiko’s hand was cold, and Yatatightened his grip, eager to change that.

“Really? Fine. Fushimi Saruhiko.”

Yeah, it sounds so much better in person.

Yata grinned brightly, and as Saruhiko returnedit, he knew nothing would ruin the moment. He doubted he’d ever forget iteither.

“I work for a few more hours, can youwait?” Yata hoped the offer to go home with Saruhiko still stood, his bodypractically vibrating in excitement.

Saruhiko smirked in full this time, and yeah, Yatawas gone.

“Table for one?”

#sarumi #k project #adri writing #fushimi saruhiko #yata misaki