Chapter Text
“Kojiro, those decorations are a disgrace.”
“Who are you to talk? They even match your hair.” Kojiro jokingly held up a large pink paper heart to Kaoru’s hair before Kaoru smacked it away.
Kojiro grinned and taped it to the wall. Sia La Luce was decked in pink, red, and white for Valentine’s Day. Ribbons lined the wall and one dangled above Kaoru, who eyed it suspiciously.
“Got to let customers know there’s a Valentine’s Day deal going on. Hopefully I’ll be here all day watching couples try to recreate Lady and the Tramp and getting sauce all over their faces.”
Kaoru snorted. “Best of luck to you. I plan to spend tomorrow getting a bit of work done and basking in gifts from my adoring fans.” He glanced at Kojiro expectantly. “I suppose you’ve got a date with one of your lucky fans during the evening, no?”
Kojiro shook his head. “Nah, I’ll be swamped at the restaurant, and anyway, the whole thing’s commercialized, don’t you think?”
“Did the gorilla learn a new word?” Kaoru said, but there was no real malice behind it.
“Oh, shut it, you know what I mean. I know I’m setting up all this stuff, but it just means I know all the work and fake-ness of everything. I’ve never really remembered much about Valentine’s Day anyway.”
Kaoru blinked in surprise. “Really, you don’t remember our adoring classmates piling chocolate high on your desk every year? At one point you couldn’t see the blackboard behind it.” He smiled, remembering the years before Ainosuke came. The height of his Valentine’s Days in middle school were watching Kojiro fumble, trying and failing to fit all the chocolate he’d received in his backpack.
“The chocolate tasted great, but it was always the fancy, store-bought stuff. The kind you get when you’re trying to impress someone but don’t really know them?”
“Ah,” was all Kaoru said. He remembered sneaking a small piece onto Kaoru’s desk as soon as lunch started, and then watching as several other girls did the same, too afraid to approach him directly. He looked down towards his empty plate to hide his faint blush.
“Hey, now I’ve got this place, and you’ve got Carla–“
“I’ve told you before–“
“Yeah, yeah, she’s dear to you, but you come back to me and my food every night.”
“KOJIRO–“ Kaoru grabbed his half-empty drinking glass and swung his arm back to pour it over Kojiro, but then had an idea. He came back to Kojiro’s food, but would Kojiro come to him if he made a gift?
Kaoru put the glass down on the other side of the counter and sighed. “I’ve had enough of your foolish notions tonight. I’m tired.” He picked Carla and her charging cable up off the floor and began to walk out the door.
“Aw, damn, guess you can’t stand up to me tonight.” Kojiro chuckled, grabbing the empty plate and glass. “See you tomorrow if I’m still standing.”
Kaoru pushed open the door, not looking back, excitement brewing in his mind. “Good luck with Valentine’s, gorilla.”