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It had been hard for Kojiro being forced by the nurses to leave the hospital and let them take care of Kaoru as they ran their scans and tended to her several injuries and broken bones, so Kojiro did the only thing he knew how to do when he was stressed.
He went to Sia La Luce and cooked a light meal for him to eat before checking the storage and cleaning then preparing the restaurant for the following day.
In truth, he didn’t really need to do any of those things but he’d done them either way. He needed to be active because he knew the moment he stopped moving, it would be the moment he would crash down, worrying about Kaoru and if she would be okay and how he could help her.
But even after distracting himself for a while by doing meaningless menial tasks, there was nothing else he could do, and so he grabbed a glass and the half empty wine bottle he had to drink and tried to calm himself down.
Just when he was about to serve himself his second glass of the night, he heard the door of the restaurant open and the sound of wheels against the wooden floor and when he turned around he saw Kaoru Sakurayashiki herself, in her blue hospital gown and covered in bandages head-to-toe.
“Are you an idiot?” he asked his friend, his worry clear in his voice, “Sneaking out of the hospital like that-” he was cut by Kaoru assuring him she was fine, that her injuries weren’t nothing more than mere scratches.
Though when he called her out on her lies she ignored him before adding that she at least had gone against ADAM and hadn't lost to a rookie, talking about how Snow wasn’t a normal rookie, that this new kid could be a monster even worse than ADAM in terms of skill.
But when Kaoru was about to reply to his last comment and didn’t find the exact words to voice what she had wanted to say she grabbed the wine bottle to pour her some and have time to rearrange her thoughts before realizing it was empty and pulling the injured card to make Kojiro go and grab a new one but not without some bickering in between.
****
It wasn’t even five minutes that Kojiro spent in the cellar looking for a wine that would suit Kaoru’s tastes but while he was in there, Kaoru decided she would rest for a bit, all the events from the night plus the meds she’d been given in the hospital finally catching up to her and so she let her eyes close as she rested her head on the counter, her breath slowing down as she was about to fall asleep.
Which she would, if Kojiro’s voice didn’t interrupt her by asking if a Lafite wine bottle would be okay before seeing her with her eyes closed and assuming she was asleep.
But when Kaoru was about to open them and reply, Kojiro sat down and started talking to himself.
“ADAM is currently skating all by himself.” Kojiro started, his voice soft yet serious “He’s an amazing skater, but I’m sure he’s not happy right now.” he continued as he poured them the wine. “That's why his skating ends up that way.”
“But you know, we’re not alone.” upon hearing those words, Kaoru opened one of her eyes a bit, enough to see Kojiro turning to look at her with the softest look in his eyes, a loving smile to match, yet Kojiro stayed unaware that she was actually listening to his every word, staying still not to interrupt him.
“Right...Kaoru?”
After his little speech about ADAM and later one-sided love confession, Kojiro toasted their glasses together, a soft clink sound echoing in the silence, before drinking the wine.
All the while Kaoru fought the smile threatening to appear on her face, having given up on the soft pink flush that now painted her face because how dared Kojiro look so handsome while being so damn soft and saying such romantic and profound things.
Once Kaoru had managed to placate the whirlwind of emotions and feelings inside of her, her thoughts started to stray from Kojiro’s actual words to wondering if Kojiro would have spoken so freely had he known she wasn’t sleeping.
She already knew the answer, of course she did, she hadn’t known Kojiro since kindergarten without learning to read him like an open book. And though it was an answer she was ready to face yet, because both of them were too afraid taking that step would ruin whatever it was that they actually had, but it still broke her heart because she loved him.
She probably had been in love with him for a very long time, if she were to judge by how her heart ached for Kojiro, his soft voice, his pretty smile and gentle and caring nature, and the warmth he always brought to her otherwise dull life.
****
It had been some weeks since the final S race between ADAM and Langa and about a month and a half since that fateful scene at Sia La Luce and Kaoru was still in the early stages of their recovery but steadily working on it to get better and better every day.
And after a few failed attempts on Kaoru’s parts to confess to Kojiro and let him know that they know about his feelings towards them, Kaoru was nearly their breaking point and about to start tearing their hair out of their hair if Kojiro, the most oblivious giant on the planet, didn’t get more of their not-so-subtle hints and flirty words he thought were sarcastic remarks and to start bickering with him.
So Kaoru decided to do what any person with no more resources in their bag would do.
Kaoru decided to call Kojiro to meet on the spot they used to hang out and skate together as teens. The place only they knew about and where they had spent several hours talking, laughing, skating and tending to each other wounds and broken hearts.
The place where they sneaked longing looks towards the other when they thought the other wasn’t looking.
Once they were, all the tension Kaoru had been feeling piled up and they felt about to explode so they just hoped Kojiro would be the first to say something and break the ice, and luckily, Kojiro seemed to pick up on their nervousness and started the conversation by asking how he felt about ADAM’s new skating style, now that their old friend seemed to have rediscovered how fun skating would be.
“I don’t know, Kojiro…” Kaoru started “Am I happy he isn’t a violent whiny bitch, even if he is still as extra and a diva as always? I guess that’s a way to describe what I feel about the situation. Even if I find it pretty weird that he needed a teenager to realize that…” Kaoru said, his face showing his disgust about the whole ADAM and Langa situation, especially regarding the way the man acted around the kid.
“Still, even if I work through every traumatic experience Adam made me go through, I don’t think I’ll ever forgive everything he’s done to me. He’s done nothing to actually prove he deserves my forgiveness and for me to waste my time speaking to him.” Kaoru added, finally admitting to someone everything Adam had done to them throughout their life since they met him when they were a teenager, looking at the sunset as they spoke, not wanting Kojiro to see the tears falling down their face.
Kojiro, of course, knew from their voice that they were crying and so went and made Kaoru turn around and look at him before brushing their tears away with his thumbs as he cradled their face in his hands.
“But you know, we’re not alone.” Kaoru said, opening his eyes to look Kojiro in the eyes as he leaned into the touch, one of his hands holding Kojiro’s hand right there.
“Right...Kojiro?” Kaoru added, before turning their face enough to kiss Kojiro’s palm, a soft smirk appeared in their face after they saw Kojiro’s dumbfounded look in his face as he realized Kaoru had just said the same exact words he’d spoken to them.
His eyes widened when he finally caught in the fact that the person he’d been in love with since he was a teenager loved him back and was looking at his face with love-filled eyes. His mouth opened one and two times and nothing came out of it, not knowing what to say as they processed everything that had just happened.
Though behind that love, Kojiro also saw a hunger he didn’t realize, or didn’t want to acknowledge was there, was there before.
That hunger now apparent as Kaoru ran their hands through his messy curls, landing on the back of his neck and pushed him down as they said “Oh, shut up and just kiss me you dumb gorilla…” before finally properly kissing him for the first time.