Work Text:
“Alright! Is everyone here?”
Joe’s eyes skimmed over the people at his front door. Each one with a very different expression to being invited. Miya was at the end, hunched over a blue screen in his hands. Cherry was standing straight with his usual scowl and crossed arms. Shadow seemed excited, but he was doing a horrible job of hiding it. Reki had his arm around Langa’s shoulder with a massive grin on his face, and Langa just looked happy to be there from his small radiant smile.
“Clearly, you blind buffoon.” Cherry scoffed, stepping inside.
Everyone set their bags on the coffee table in front of the TV. Joe’s apartment was fairly small; he mostly bought it for the kitchen. It was high standard with multiple stoves and an island. The rest of the apartment was tiny and cramped, but it wasn’t like Joe lived with anyone.
Shadow slumped on the sofa, clearly taking up as much space as he could with a malicious grin. Miya frowned and wacked his leg, moving it out of the way so he could sit and curl his knees up as he stared at his game. Reki and Langa jumped on the couch, Reki’s arm still around Langa’s shoulder as they happily talked (or well, Reki talked, Joe wasn’t sure if Langa did anything more than listen). Only Joe and Cherry were standing up, staring at the four on the sofa.
“Oka-”
“I think you should let me explain.”
Joe gritted his teeth. “I was in the middle of doing that.”
“You wouldn’t do a good enough job, last time I checked gorilla’s weren’t very good speakers.” Cherry snobbed with a smirk.
Both of them glared at each other. Silent fights like this happened often. It was almost like they could read each other's minds. At this point, Cherry’s mind was almost daring him to punch his friend in the face.
Joe looked the other way, breaking their silent argument.
“Fine, if you’re so good at it.”
Cherry broke out into a smile and stared at the children sitting on the couch.
“In congratulations of Langa beating Adam, Joe and I decided to treat you all. Joe will be making you dinner, tonight.”
Reki grinned. “Sweet!” He exclaimed, kicking up his feet on the coffee table. Langa just seemed happy at the sound of food. Both Miya and Shadow were still bickering. Cherry didn’t know why the buffoon bothered to argue with a 14 year old, but then again they could say the same about him and Joe.
Langa stared at Cherry for a moment. “Well, you said Joe and you are treating us, but what are you doing?” He asked bluntly. Anyone else would’ve considered that question rude, but Langa always had good intentions.
Cherry sighed. He almost forgot. “He insisted I will be helping him cook tonight.”
Shadow snickered. “You can’t cook! Remember when you had to make us desert?” Cherry thought back to when he had served everyone burnt key lime pie. It wasn’t the most pleasant experience, and he found himself cringing at the thought.
“Well,” Cherry gritted his teeth and looked over to Joe, who had made his way over to his large kitchen. He didn’t quite want to admit that he’d need Joe to help him, but this wasn’t exactly his forte. “I’ll have Joe to assist me.”
“You mean cook for you.” Joe added, taking off his jean jacket and swinging it over a cabinet knob.
“I meant help me, you ape!” Cherry marched over to the kitchen and rolled up the sleeves of his kimono.
Joe chuckled and opened the fridge, looking through its contents. “I just wanted to hear you say you needed my help.”
Cherry rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. “Just tell me what to do.”
Joe turned behind him, looking Cherry up and down. “First you’re going to have to change out of that.”
Cherry frowned. “What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?”
Joe shook his head and smiled, pulling eggs and milk out of the fridge and closing it with his heel. He placed the items on the counter and returned to his pantry.
“It’s too fancy, it’ll get ruined.”
“I didn’t bring anything else.”
Joe cocked his head to the side in confusion. “You know you have clothes in my place, right?”
Cherry froze. He hadn’t remembered bringing clothes to Joe’s apartment. Naturally, if he had brung a change of clothes that meant he had changed at Joe’s. Even worse, he might have slept at Joe’s house. He must’ve been under the influence, because he could never imagine doing that sober.
“Don’t you remember? Your studio was getting renovated and so you spent the night on my sofa. You never took your clothes, they’re on the top shelf of my closet.”
Cherry breathed out in relief, remembering the incident. He had feared for the worse. He was always such a different person when he drank, Joe knew that firsthand.
“Fine, I’ll be back in a moment.” Cherry stepped out of the kitchen. Looking over his shoulder, he found the others were watching reality TV. Shadow and Reki seemed to be heavily invested in the show, while Miya and Langa had scooted next to each other and looked to be in a very deep discussion. At least they weren’t bored.
Going into Joe’s room, Cherry found his nose clogged with the scent of Joe’s cologne. It almost made Cherry gag at first, but eventually it was comforting. He really didn’t mind the smell too much, and his nose adjusted. It’s not like he wasn’t with Joe nearly every second of the day. From work to S to nights at the restaurant, him and Joe spent more time together then anyone else in their lives.
Joe’s room was as messy as he was. Posters of sports and chefs and skaters were lazily clinging to the walls. The floor was littered with clothing and strangely different pieces of paper, all scribbled with writing. Picking one up, Cherry found they were recipes. Dozens and dozens of recipes. It did make sense, cooking was Joe’s job after all.
Stepping over the strewn about clothes and opening the closet made the smell of cologne even stronger. Seeing all of Joe’s clothes that Cherry knew him so well in hung off of his body felt weird. They looked so natural on Joe, but by themselves they looked big and flashy, like something a conceited frat boy would wear. Looking to the shelf above, he did find his clothes neatly folded in a stack. Taking it down, he found a tank top and sweatpants. Not Cherry’s usual choice of clothing, but he must’ve brought it to Joe’s house in a hurry. Taking them in his arms, he found they also smelled like Joe, a scent he almost found himself enjoying at that point. He wasn’t sure why, but he didn’t want to go through the trouble of questioning it.
Exiting the room and entering the bathroom, Cherry slipped off his kimono and changed into his tank top and pants. He redid his hair into a messy bun in the mirror, and stared at his reflection. He really did look different without his usual structured fashion. He looked more like he did when he was in high school; rebellious and young. The faint marks of his lip piercing hole could be seen and his hair was pulled up, showing off the small tattoo on his neck. His arms were on full display, showing his toned muscle from years of skating and training. He almost felt like an entirely different human.
Cherry stepped out of the bathroom, taking in the cold air as he stepped to the kitchen. Joe at this point had put on music (very ridiculous music at that, it seemed to be a mix of boy band and 90’s pop) and was chopping up vegetables and humming along.
“I’m here.” Cherry muttered, announcing his presence. Joe looked up and found Cherry in something he hadn’t seen him in for a while. Western clothing was rare for Cherry. But damn, Joe couldn’t help but admit he looked good in them. He found himself staring for much longer than he should’ve.
He whistled and returned to the tomatoes under his hands.
“Lookin’ good hot stuff, now come over here and help me.”
Cherry blushed at the comment and went over to Joe’s side, carefully waiting for instructions. From how Joe did things in the kitchen, he made food seem like an artform. Each piece needed to be perfect, one imperfection and the whole dish was ruined. Cherry chocked Joe off to be a brute, but in reality he was an artist.
“I need you to make dessert.” He started. Cherry groaned, he hated making desert. The key lime pie disaster was still burned in his memory.
Joe laughed. “It won’t be that hard! I’ll help you. First, get out flour, sugar, eggs, milk, and baking powder. You’ll find them all in the pantry, and the eggs and milk are already out.”
Cherry nodded with silence and turned behind him. Ruining this would be beyond embarrassing. He put the eggs and milk together, and rummaged through the massive pantry and found the rest of the ingredients, laying them gingerly on the counter.
“Done.”
Joe turned around from the stove and smiled. “Now I need you to,” He paused, his eyebrows scrunched up in thought. “Well, I’m not sure you’re going to be able to remember all these at once.”
Cherry rolled his eyes. “I’m not as stupid as you are, just tell me them.”
“Two cups of flour, ¼ cup of sugar, two eggs, a cup and a half of milk, and a teaspoon of baking powder.” Joe recited from memory, almost like he was reading from a textbook. Cherry found himself stunned from the preciseness of it all, but it was easy to remember. Cherry remembered quotes and lines all the time, tucking them in the corners of his mind for future projects.
Pouring the dry ingredients was easy, and he had that done quickly. It was cracking the eggs he found difficult. The first one he got so much shell in it was as if he had just dropped the entire thing inside the bowl. Cleaning out the pieces took much longer than he expected, and he grunted in frustration.
Joe turned around, finding Cherry struggling to crack an egg. It was a funny sight, seeing such a talented man struggle with an egg. Out of pity, he quietly slid behind Cherry and took his smaller hands in his own. Cherry said nothing, but the blush on his cheeks was seen easily. Joe adjusted his hands and pushed his thumbs into the shell, cracking the egg cleanly into the bowl. Compared to Joe’s calloused fingers, Cherry’s were smooth and cold. After working over the stove, they felt heavenly. He finally returned to the stove, and Cherry felt the warmth on his back disappear.
“Uhm… thank you.” He muttered. Joe simply nodded in response, humming along to the song on his speaker.
The rest of the prep work went normally, with constant bickering and laughs. Joe’s apartment was undoubtedly cozy. The kitchen was lit up with the sound of machinery and the smell of baked goods, and the buzz of television in the background. Soon enough, the food was cooking and Joe and Cherry had nothing left to do but wait. Cherry turned out to be making muffins, and Joe had made them all deep-dish lasagna that smelled heavenly. The two hung out so often that they found it hard to make small talk, well purposely anyway. Usually topics of discussion came easily.
But today, Cherry couldn’t find the words coming out of his throat like usual. He had this odd feeling ever since being in the kitchen. At first he thought he was sick with the twisting feeling in his stomach. But it increased when Joe had helped him crack that egg before, so he doubted it was anything medical. He also noticed Joe’s stares as they both stood at opposite ends of the kitchen. Joe had looked at him before, it wasn’t uncommon, but today it was different. His eyes looked softer, kinder almost. As if he was admiring instead of examining. It made Cherry feel uncomfortable, and suddenly his loose tank top was too tight and sweaty for comfort. The both of them had flour on their fingertips and silent words through their lips. Staring back, he could feel himself give into one of their ‘silent’ conversations. But right now, he couldn’t read Joe like he used to.
Suddenly, a different song came on. Compared to the quiet pop from before, this was softer. It was a ballad of piano and loose guitar in a symphony of colors. The words spoke of hope, contrasting to the sad tempo of the piano. The writer spoke of new feelings replacing old, how everything seemed to change in a heartbeat.
And Cherry supposed the writer was right, since everything seemed to change in a heartbeat.
Joe stepped towards Cherry and with white covered fingertips, reached out his hand.
“Dance with me?”
🍵🌸
Alright, maybe Joe was a little stupid.
But the moment he heard that song on the speaker he knew exactly what to do. This had been his favorite song ever since college. It wasn’t really his taste in music, but it had reminded him of Cherry. About how fantastical and slow and proper and messy their relationship was. About all the fights they had gotten into and the nights they spent together, about everything Cherry was.
“W-why?” Cherry sputtered. Joe had realized what he had just done, and found himself staring at his hand with a blush. He had just asked his best friends to dance with him.
But again, he found himself looking up into Cherry’s eyes and smiling.
“It’ll be fun.”
Cherry hesitated, looking at his hand with what looked like disgust. But eventually he took his hand in his own and wrapped his fingertips around Joe’s shoulder as Joe put his slightly higher than Cherry’s waist. Their position was close, with the both of them touching chests in the middle of the kitchen, hand in hand. Cherry had never been this close to Joe before, and the smell of cologne he had before now enveloped his body from every angle.
The piano slowly changed tempos, moving to a lovely steady beat. Cherry couldn’t find himself to look Joe in the eyes, so he stared at his shoes as they waltzed around the kitchen floor. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain on his foot.
“You stepped on my foot, idiot.”
“It was in the way!”
“Well, I- I’ve never danced before.” Cherry muttered. Joe chuckled, shifting them across the floor as the piano seemed to move around the room in waves.
“It’s alright, it’s my first time too.”
And for a moment, the rest of the room didn’t exist. It was just them, the kitchen floor, and the waves of music entering their bodies as they swayed to the tune of lovesick confessionary music. Cherry felt his feet lift off the floor and clinging to Joe was the only thing keeping him from the bowls of the void below him. And finally, he was able to look up.
There was a glimmer of sun as he looked up, almost as if it were summer. Joe’s face was directly above his, their noses simply inches away. The feeling was warm, cozy, familiar. The pang of deja vu hit Cherry like a brick with Joe’s smiling face above him.
He was in love.
And he blinked, and returned to the kitchen floor, his feet safely on the ground.
But he swore for a second, he was flying.
🍵🌸
“And, food is served!”
Trays of lasagna, breadsticks, and muffins were set on the coffee table. The four boys (Cherry could hardly call Shadow a man) quickly bowed in thanks and stuffed their mouths. Joe and Cherry chuckled, both taking pieces of their work.
Joe’s lasagna obviously tasted amazing, but Cherry was surprised with the muffins. They were smooth and light with a hint of lemon. It was mostly Joe’s work, but it was a nice ego booster to have nice muffins.
Joe looked over to Cherry with a stuffed mouth and a smile. “We really outdid ourselves!” Cherry found himself smiling back. With the revelation of new feelings in the back of his mind, tucked away with his poems and plans, he couldn’t help but feel giddy. The feeling of love was one Cherry wrote quite a bit about. He never seemed like this, but it was a feeling he was addicted to. An addiction he had been sober from for years.
But with Joe? That was something he had never thought about. He had his side flings and his relationships, but he was so career-focused to ever settle down. Joe on the other hand was probably much more experienced as he was. He brought a girl home from S nearly every night. But they were all one night stands, and Joe hardly spoke of them.
Plus, there also came the issue of his feelings being mutual. Joe asking to dance could’ve just been to fuck with Cherry, it’s not like he hadn’t done it before.
Eventually, through reality tv, arguments and jokes, a whole ton of lasagna and muffins, everyone filtered out of Joe’s apartment. Now Cherry and Joe were alone with the sound of 90’s music faintly drifting through Cherry’s ears. Cherry sat at the same stool at the counter he always did, and Joe poured the both of them the same bottle of wine.
Cherry shook his head. “I’ll have sake.”
“Wow, something that strong?” Joe chuckled. He put away the win glasses and pulled out some shot glasses and white fizzy sake.
“I have a headache, and I miss the taste.”
“You better not go overboard, you know how you are on alcohol.”
Cherry winced, remembering all the drunk dials and blacked out stories he had. “That goes for you too, gorilla.”
Joe poured sake into the shot glasses and slid one over the counter. Cherry took in the intoxicant, feeling the fiery feeling shake his insides. Staring at his glass, he swirled the remaining drink in the cup.
“I… really liked cooking with you today.” He whispered. Joe looked up at Cherry and blinked, as if Cherry had just spoken a different language.
Cherry frowned. “Didn’t you hear me?”
“I- did.” He stuttered. How was he supposed to say anything? Cherry never complimented Joe unless it was ironically or he was drunk, and he had only just taken a shot. He must’ve been mostly sober.
“I,” He continued with another sip of sake to say the rest. The blush on his cheeks rose with the alcohol. “I really enjoyed it too.”
“We should… do it more often.” Cherry felt the same blush rise on his cheeks. He couldn’t tell if it was him or the shot of sake talking.
Joe chuckled. “I don’t think you should drive home tonight with how you’re speaking.” He poured himself and Cherry another shot, and Cherry downed it immediately, standing up from his stool.
“I mean it!” Cherry said with a scowl, pounding his fists on the table.
“I want to cook with you forever!”
The passion on Cherry’s face made Joe hold his breath. He looked like he did when he spoke of skating in high school. Joe could almost make out his lip ring and side bang on Cherry’s unpierced face. His eyes shined and his mouth was wide open, realising what he had just said.
What did he mean, he wanted to cook with him forever? What was he talking about? Joe’s head spun with possibilities, all better than the last.
The two stared at each other, this time their silent argument turned into a silent confession. Cherry was still standing, fists on the table, mouth open. Looking through the signals in Cherry’s eyes, he tried to look for a sign of why. Of what was happening. Of what Cherry meant. And after a few seconds, he had finally found it.
And so, Joe being the idiot he was, kissed him.
The kiss had completely taken Cherry by surprise, but the way it felt right was the most sensory feeling. There he was, in that void away from the kitchen. His feet were dragged up in a weightless balancing act. His chin was held by Joe’s hand as he kissed him. A million thoughts dragged him every which way, and he wasn’t sure which one to follow. Joe had kissed him. Idiotic, platonic, straight, Joe.
And then his chin was left empty, and he was back in the kitchen. He was back on the counter, with sake running through his veins. He was back with Joe staring him down with the same passionate look in his eyes.
“I want to cook with you forever.” Cherry repeated, earnestly, almost needily.
“I don’t want to.” Joe looked to the side. Cherry froze, his heart falling from his chest to that void below his feet.
“Why?” Cherry whispered.
“Because I want to be with you forever.”