Chapter Text
Tsukumo Yuki is more than aware of the effect that she has on people. She knows she’s attractive, and she knows the way people eye her whenever she’s nearby. She’s just never actually been attracted to any of them in return, not even those who had the gall to confess their — admittedly rather shallow — feelings for her, either because they were men, or they just simply weren’t her type. This is the first time where she’s finding herself chasing around after somebody, rather than having them come to her.
It started a few weeks ago. Yuki knows everyone at her gym, considering she owns the place. She’s there all the time, so she knows whenever newcomers sign up. She likes to think of herself as an approachable and down to earth sort of manager and with that comes her want to know everybody who’s signed up; she claims that her reasoning is that she just wants to keep the place safe from anyone who may pose a threat, but really she just wants to get to know them — she’s always been friendly like that, it’s her personal key to running a successful business, to get to know her clients on a personal level.
Don’t get her wrong, Yuki is a great conversationalist. She’s good at filling awkward silences, and even better at making small talk, but she truly found herself stumped the second that she’d laid eyes upon her latest client.
Now, Yuki has met her fair share of attractive women in her time, so when she says that the woman in question had left her speechless, she well and truly meant it. She’s built like she’s made of steel, and because of her build alone she clearly knows her way around a gym, so there’s no chance she could try and offer her free personal training as a scheme to get closer to her. She’s way more built than she is. She’s covered in scars too, all over her arms and her thighs and she gives off an undeniably confident aura. The scars make her look totally badass, and Yuki wants to learn the story behind every single one of them.
So now she’s stuck with absolutely no idea on how the hell to talk to this woman, and Yuki hates feeling this way when she prides herself on being so confident and friendly. Hell, the client in question hasn’t even come over to say hello yet, and Yuki’s been hovering around her every time she’s been here for weeks!
…Okay, maybe that’s a little creepy. But it’s not that bad. She’s just very weak for beautiful women.
She’s zoning out deep in thought nearby when there’s suddenly a presence making themself known behind her, and Yuki just about jumps out of her skin, before feeling her cheeks burn when she sees it's the exact same person she was just thinking about how to approach — her entire face is red hot, not only because she just embarrassed herself in front of the woman she’s been thirsting over for weeks now, but also because of how attractive even her laugh is; now that she thinks about it, she’s never heard her talk before, and holy hell is her voice deep .
She’s instantly 10 times more attractive than before, and then she opens her mouth and somehow that doubles.
“Ain’t greeted me at all yet, huh?” she teases, leaning a little too close into Yuki’s personal space, but she doesn’t mind one bit. “Heard from everyone around that the owner always greets her latest clients, but I don’t recall ever gettin’ that kinda treatment. I scare ya?”
Shit, she’s now even sexier after opening her mouth. Her laugh was deep but her voice was deeper, and the effect on Yuki’s brain was catastrophic. God, pull yourself together! She scolds herself internally, not realising that the expression on her face was very telling of her internal panic.
“I say somethin’?” she spoke again after a moment, genuinely confused. She leans back just a little in case her teasing opener wasn’t well received, which was exactly how she was taking that sort of reaction. Yuki looked surprised at the very least, eyes wide as she waved her hands frantically.
“No, no, not at all! Sorry, guess my mind must’ve wandered…” She laughed nervously, flustered at how quickly she was making a fool of herself. The woman seemed to see how things were now, though, a smirk taking to her lips and stretching the small scar at the corner of her mouth. So she was flustered . She sees how it is.
“Don’t worry about it,” she reassures before holding her hand out, a smug expression written all over her face, “name’s Toji, nice to meet ya.”
Yuki tried her absolute hardest to pull herself together, but she’s always had a weak spot for gorgeous, gorgeous women. All she wanted to do right now was wipe that smug look right off of her face.
(Though, she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to achieve that by one upping her, or just leaning over to kiss her right here and now. She wonders how her scar would feel against her lips.)
“Gonna guess you already know my name since I own the place, but I’m Yuki. Looking forward to seeing you around, Toji,” she settled to tease in return with a level of confidence that buried just how flustered she actually was right now, reaching out to shake her hand.
Toji, however, didn’t falter for even a second, squeezing her hand before letting it go and dropping her hand back to her side. “I gotta get back home to my kid, but I guess I’ll see ya when I’m here next, pretty lady.” She bid her goodbyes and waved before walking away like she hadn’t just made Yuki swoon, hands shoved in her pockets nonchalantly.
Yuki barely even had time to process what she’d said before she was out of sight, standing there completely dumbfounded like an idiot.
…Wait, had she said that she has a kid? A child? Oh man, she's in way too deep now. And she doesn’t even know if Toji likes women in the first place. Maybe she was just being nice, or maybe she was flirting just to get a reaction out of her?
It’s all so complicated . Yuki is so done for.
After their initial interaction, the two of them had hit it off really well, much to Yuki’s pleasure. Everytime that Toji came by the gym, Yuki always gravitated towards her, gradually getting to know her more and more in the coming weeks. She was even more interesting than she had initially thought just from the look of her — turns out she hadn’t even really frequented gyms before signing up here, mostly just trained in her own space on her own time over the last couple of years. Yuki seriously wonders how intensely she had to be training to get a physique like she had with the way that she downplayed her own achievements.
(Perhaps there was an underlying message she was missing about that. Maybe she would find out eventually.)
In the time that they’d been spending getting to know each other, the topic of Toji’s child had never come up in conversation again. She comes and goes at the same time everyday, but Yuki doesn’t question it, chalks it down to that maybe she’s just a stickler for routine, maybe she has a job to get to.
“What time is it?” Toji looks up to where Yuki is standing above her, where she’s still laying back on the bench after finishing her last sets of her workout for the day. Yuki briefly glanced down at her watch before looking back at her.
“Almost 3. Why, you got somewhere to be?”
Toji sat up quickly, avoiding hitting her head on the bar, and wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand. “Ah, shit, kid’s gonna get back from school soon. I gotta head out.”
Yuki’s eyes widened a little at Toji bringing up her child again, trying her hardest not to come off as prying or nosey as she questioned her, undoubtedly curious. Sue her. “Kid, huh?” She leaned against the wall behind her, crossing her arms and smiling. “You don’t seem like the type who’d have kids.”
She just shrugged, dismissing the thought entirely with a wave of her hand in her general direction. “Yeah, well, shit happens I guess. He means everythin’ to me, so it doesn’t matter.”
“Oh, I didn’t mean it in a bad way, I honestly think it’s kinda cute,” Yuki teased, chuckling to herself. “And you’re in damn good shape for someone who had a kid.”
Toji didn’t say anything after that, just sort of… staring at her, pausing what she was doing to just look at her like she’d said something stupid. Now she started panicking, scrambling to defend herself.
“Wait, is that bad to say? I’m so sorry, I—”
But then Toji just started laughing , the type of laugh that had her hunched over clutching her stomach for dear life, the same laugh that gave Yuki butterflies like she was 15 and realising that she liked girls for the first time all over again. “Are you messing with me?” Toji asked once she’d finally calmed down.
And now Yuki was confused again. Christ, this woman was throwing her for so many loops, but she weirdly liked the inability to ever keep up with her. Keeps her sharp on her toes. “Huh?”
“I didn’t have my kid myself,” she tries again after a moment, trying to see if she’d get the glaring hint hidden in her words.
“Oh, he’s adopted then?” Yuki asked like that was the clear answer here. Toji just started laughing, again .
“Nah, he’s mine alright,” she said after she’d stopped laughing again. Yuki’s very visibly confused by now and she’s very clearly run out of guesses, so Toji decided to go easy on her and just give her the answer instead of beating around the bush any longer. “Yuki, I’m a trans woman. I figured that was pretty obvious by my voice.”
The woman in front of her just looked at her like she’d stated the most unbelievable fact in the world. Wow, Toji is well aware that Yuki is so head over heels for her that it clearly messes with her head sometimes, but she really did guess that she would’ve clocked that after they’d introduced themselves to each other. It’s not like she’s particularly trying to hide it.
“Huh. Wait, for real?”
Toji honestly couldn’t believe what she was hearing, but if she’s being honest, something about that is a major boost to her confidence. Not that she isn’t confident as it is but… well, sometimes she needed to hear things like that. “Yeah, for real. I’m gonna let you sayin’ that feed my ego, though.”
She’s irresistible , Yuki thinks. I have to have her .
Now, perhaps it’s mildly unprofessional to ask her something of this nature, but Yuki’s never exactly claimed to be professional and it’s gotten her this far. Plus, she’s just the boss… She doesn’t really have any serious professional involvement with Toji besides merely owning the establishment, so this is really just a proposition between friends, even though Yuki would like for them to be more than that.
“Hey, do you wanna get dinner sometime?” She stands a little straighter and says her words with false confidence — she’s usually great with social situations, but that changes entirely when she’s around attractive women, or maybe it’s just Toji who makes her feel this way. At this point, she’s not exactly sure.
Toji cocks her head to the side a little, smirk taking to her scarred lips in the way that makes Yuki weak at the knees without fail. It’s like she knows how to toy with her. “Sure. You plannin’ on payin’?” she says, like the leech she is.
Yuki’s going to let her leech off of her, of course, but that’s besides the point.
“Well, I’m the one who asked,” she shrugged, adjusting her hair to push it behind her ears, “it’d be pretty stupid if I asked you out and made you pay for it.”
“Sounds good to me then.” Toji shrugged before standing up, stretching her arms above her head only for her already tightly fitted shirt to slide up, exposing her midriff enough for Yuki to feel herself grinding her teeth together to ensure her jaw stays glued shut , lest she start drooling like an animal over mere inches of skin. She dropped her arms back to her sides shortly after, gesturing vaguely at the air. “You gonna give me your number?”
Yuki, with her brain as fried as it was, took that as Toji asking for her number for reasons unrelated, before realising she’s actually gonna need it so she can relay the details of their plans. Which makes more sense, and is the only option that makes any sense, actually, but she’s out of her mind enough to take it as flirting. “Mhm, mind passing me your phone for a sec?”
Toji nodded, pulling her phone out of her back pocket and unlocking it before handing it straight over to her; she’s pleasantly surprised that she hadn’t even opened her contacts for her to add her number, allowing her to see her phone’s background — it’s a really cute picture, actually, of Toji with her child on some sort of day out. Yuki doesn’t dwell on that for too long though, in case her lack of hand movement to hand her number over became suspicious, and she’s hyper aware that the other woman has to pick up the child in question soon enough. It doesn’t take long before she’s handing the phone back with a smile on her face.
“Cute wallpaper,” she teases, but not in a way where she’s poking fun, because she genuinely does find it adorable. “Your kid looks just like you, y’know.”
There’s a twinge of melancholy in the smile Toji gives her in return, a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. Yuki briefly wonders if she said something wrong there, but doesn’t mention anything. “Always thought he looked more like his mother. But I guess I can see where you’re comin’ from.”
She seemed to shrug it off after a moment or two though, almost as though she had physically shoved the thought back into a box and locked it away in the very furthest corner of her mind. She reached over to clasp her shoulder and squeezed it, flirtatious smile back on her face, and honestly that alone was enough to forget just how sad she’d looked just moments ago. “Well, lemme know when and where, n’ I’ll be there. See you then, sweetheart.”
Yuki had to make this the best date ever.
It was a little bit of a mad dash to pick Megumi up from preschool after leaving the gym, but Toji had turned up just on time. Damn Yuki for distracting her the way she did. Well, she can’t really complain — she did just get the number of a very pretty woman. And said pretty woman wants to go on a date with her.
God, she has got to pull herself together and realise that maybe, just maybe, she’s lying to herself a little when she thinks that Yuki is the only one in their uncertain relationship who’s pining.
The rest of the day after picking Megumi up was a blur, as it always was, trying to single handedly balance making sure he’d had a good day, making sure that he was entertained enough, making dinner for the two of them, cleaning up, and then finally tucking him into bed at 7. Toji doesn’t exactly get any time for herself in the mornings or the evenings, but in truth she wouldn’t have it any other way — that isn’t to say she didn’t find it difficult, being a single parent, but it’d gotten easier over the years without her wife, at least.
She at the very least has Shiu to help her deal with things in the times where trying to balance everything got too much. He’s pretty much the only friend she has left after it all, but even before her wife’s passing, she’d never been a particularly social person. Nowadays she’s a little more reluctant to call in childcare related favours, especially because Shiu is a very busy man with his job, but she’s always been a smoothtalker even if the man never gives into her charms. He’s really about as close as she has to a best friend; he’s dealt with her being a leech off of him for this long and he hasn’t left yet, so she settles that he’ll cope if she asks him to do her a favour.
Surprisingly, he doesn’t take long to answer her call for once, when she’s finally settled on the sofa for the evening. He doesn’t particularly sound impressed, but Toji is going to take that as he’d just had a bad day at work rather than him being annoyed she’d called him.
“What?” he says gruffly, and Toji can tell there’s a cigarette between his lips.
“No need to sound so unhappy to hear from me,” she teased, leaning back into the sofa. She could hear the sigh from the other side of the line, and then an exhale as Shiu took a drag from his cigarette.
“You want something from me, don’t you?”
Well, Toji couldn’t exactly deny that. “Is that such a bad thing?”
“Just spit it out already, Toji.”
“You’re no fun,” she pouted, kicking her feet up on the coffee table, “can you look after Megs tomorrow? Just in the evening. Got a date.”
“A date, huh?” At least Shiu sounded a little more amused now. “Who’s the unlucky bastard who has the misfortune of going on a date with you? Bet you’re not gonna pay, either.”
“Fuck you, man,” she whined, chewing on her bottom lip absentmindedly. “It’s the girl who owns the gym I’ve been goin’ to. Anyways, there ain’t any need to take out your lack of a love life out on me, y’know. Maybe if you got laid for once you wouldn’t have such a stick up your ass.”
“Do you want me to look after the kid or what?” he grunted, very clearly unimpressed by that. Must’ve struck a nerve. Toji is going to stick by her word, though, because she is right, after all. Shiu hasn’t given himself the time for any sort of relationship in years.
“Please?” She put on her best, fakest pleading voice possible, just to annoy Shiu enough to get him to agree. It always works, because of course it does. She’s incredibly charismatic.
“Fine,” he sighs as if he’s annoyed with her, but Toji knows that he isn't. He does love looking after Megumi, he always has. The kid loves him too, and it is pretty cute when he calls him Uncle Shiu. It gives her a sense of relief to know at least Megumi has another stable adult in his life, since he won’t remember his mother when he grows up.
“I’ll make it up to you,” she says, before backtracking, as unreliable as always, “maybe.”
“Fine. I’m holding you to it, you owe me one.” And just as he always does, he hangs up without a word. Classic Shiu. At least he’d agreed to do this for her; she just had to hope Yuki would text her back with details soon enough for Shiu to make it work around his busy schedule.
It was almost like she read her mind, because not even moments later her phone pinged with a new text from Yuki.
Yuki: Does tomorrow at 7 work? I can pick you up if you give me your address
Well, at least one of them can drive, because lord knows Toji can’t drive to save her life.
Toji: works for me
Toji: [Location Attached]
Toji: see you tomorrow pretty girl
Toji shot Shiu a quick text on the details of when to come over, before making herself comfortable on the sofa for the night with a feeling of warmth in her bones.