Archive of Our Own

Kaoru didn’t necessarily need to come to Sia La Luce for a drink.

If he wanted a drink, he could’ve gone to any bar in town. Many were open until late, perhaps he’d go to a liquor store like he often did after work (he swore to himself he deserved a wine trip on hard days only, but lately, hard days had been every other day that he’s sincerely becoming an alcoholic, but sue him.) and binge watch a crappy drama while drinking his stress away.

But when Kojiro handed him the spare key to the restaurant— don’t fuckin’ drink yourself to death, I already have to handle drunk customers throwing up all over the damn table and getting into fights and shit— was his affectionate warning, Kaoru wasn’t just going to not use the opportunity to come in after they’ve longed closed. When Kojiro gave a spare key, that meant he was trusting the person with his whole being; they could use the place as some sort of shelter, safe haven, even, when they needed it. So far, the people that had spare keys were the mötley crüe of skaters with the exception of his employees.

As Kojiro told them numerous times, use the key wisely. There were five rules:

1. Don’t destroy the place.
2. Don’t take anything that doesn't belong to you.
3. Don’t attempt to cook anything in the kitchen.
4. Once again, don’t destroy the place.
5. For the love of God, DON’T destroy the place.

Kaoru was a grown adult. He knew that these rules didn’t apply to any of the responsible adults here and more of the teenagers that had a knack of wreaking havoc wherever they went. Kojiro would give them three warnings, and if three were given, he’d revoke their spare key access. So far, the teenagers already had two. Meaning they were on thin ice.

Kaoru, on the other hand, had a particularly stressful day at work. An extremely indecisive client had him redo a commission multiple times because they kept changing their mind. Whenever Kaoru showed them a new finished piece, they’d say it’s perfect, then reject it again the day after. After the third time, he was losing his patience and asked Kojiro why he wasn’t allowed to murder people for wasting his time. He had to come up with an idea suitable to their taste all over again, and trudged over to Sia La Luce, spare key in hand, disappointed with himself that he was back here yet again. Of course, Kojiro would pick fun at him for doing so. Somehow he knew that Kaoru had visited because of how he’d neatly sort the wine bottles back in their original places and it’s so oddly specific it was insane. Just thinking about the teasing he’d get from that idiot made Kaoru even more heated, grumbling as he fumbled around with the keys and opened the door to the restaurant.

“Hard night my ass,” Kaoru muttered. He walked in and realized that the lights… were already on. He blinked.

Was Kojiro still here?

No, it can’t be. Kojiro only stayed after closing when he had to prepare the night before a big event. In that case, he practically lived here overnight. One time Kaoru had seen the man in pj’s, no shoes on, hustling in the kitchen and overworking himself to exhaustion because he was so stressed. (“I cook when I’m stressed. I can’t stop until I’m done!”) He’d usually tell everyone to go home so he could finish the rest of the preparations himself, because he’d never want to make his crew do overtime, no matter how willing they were. Jun, Marie, and Shohei were hard-working employees and were indebted to Kojiro for picking them off the streets like strays. They'd spill blood for him if he asked, but he cared about their well-being too much to subject them through the work he had to go through as a boss.

Plus, he’d tell Kaoru if he was allowed to come in while he cleaned up.

Unless it was another robber.

Kaoru stiffened. Who else would come here at this hour? This late? Could be to crash, but if that was the case— the lights would be off.

“Fuck.” He wanted to tell Kojiro, but he also didn’t want to worry the man. He didn’t have the best day either, his shift was hectic. Mentioning that his only desire was to crash and sleep for fifty years, so no one bother him.

That’s okay. Kaoru could handle this himself. He didn’t take all those taekwondo lessons for nothing. He approached the kitchen slowly, carefully, his shoes silent against the floor which put him at an advantage.

“Which baking pan should we use?” A voice asked. “This is so confusing, it says 8x8, 9x13—”

“—it doesn’t matter!” Another voice hissed. “Let’s just choose one of them.”

“But there’s so many!”

Kaoru recognized those voices.

He stepped into the kitchen, expecting to see three familiar, young faces discussing amongst themselves. “What are you guys doing?” he asked.

They screamed, jumping out of their skin.

“Cherry?!”

“I thought someone with a spare would’ve been here. At…” Kaoru looked at his Carla watch, “eleven pm in the night.”

“Hi Mama!” Miya smiled sweetly, “fancy seeing you here!”

Kaoru fetched his fan from inside his yukata, pointing it at them threateningly. “Talk.” he demanded.

“Uh…” Reki laughed, scratching his head. “W-We can explain…”

“Can you?”

Both boys nudged Langa, the only one who hadn’t spoken yet.

“We’re baking a cake.” Langa blurted out.

Kaoru blinked, “what?”

“F-For Joe’s birthday…” He said, quieter. “Tomorrow.”

Then, Kaoru remembered the box he sealed tightly with a green ribbon approximately two weeks before his birthday was even announced. Kojiro’s present he instantly worked hard on getting as early as possible because work would keep his schedule tightly swamped he’d end up putting off gift shopping entirely. Damn it, he’d even forgotten that he got Kojiro a gift.

“And you three snuck into the restaurant,” Kaoru explained, “...to bake him a cake.”

“Yeah.” Reki nodded, “pretty much.”

“It’s nearly midnight.”

“We wanted to be sure it was closed.” Miya said.

“And none of you told me?”

“We didn’t?” Reki snorted, bluffing. But Kaoru could see the sweat pooling at his forehead, “I thought we did. Didn’t… you send something in the group chat earlier, Miya?”

“Huh, I thought I did.”

“Carla, read the recent message sent in the ‘Sk8er Boyz’ group chat for me.” Kaoru opened his fan. It hovered over his lip when his bracelet glowed pink.

“Yes, master. Opening message conversation ‘Sk8er Boyz’.” Carla began, and the boys bristled. “Recent message was sent by ‘Reki’ at nine forty-three, message reads: can someone send me that Big Chungus meme again?”

“I always have receipts,” Kaoru judged by their silence he caught them red handed, “so it would be unwise to lie to me, ever.”

“Listen,” Reki began to ramble, “you can’t tell Joe about th—”

“—what are you reading?”

“Um…” Langa showed Kaoru his phone, “we were deciding which baking pan we should use. There’s so many different types and sizes, and Joe has like, a lot of baking pans in his kitchen.”

Kaoru snapped his fan shut, making the teenagers jump. “And you assumed I wouldn’t want to help?”

“W-Well no—”

“—give me.” Kaoru extended a hand. Langa gave Kaoru his phone. Kaoru swiped through the recipe on the random website they pulled up.

“The most common size is 9x13.” Kaoru explained. “Do we have that?”

The boys searched through the pantry, rummaging through empty pots and pans, and then they found the baking pan section again. They showed Kaoru the biggest cake pan Kojiro had stored.

“You think this would fit?” Reki asked.

“We’re going to bake the cake in it regardless of the size, aren’t we?” Kaoru asked, totally pretending he knew what he was talking about.

They knew he had a point.

Onward to the baking.

Kaoru didn’t cook often. Kojiro invited himself over and did that because he didn’t like the way he’d turn to instant ramen after work. (“Not enough fiber.” “You’re made of too much fiber.”) It wasn’t that he couldn’t, the amount of work that went into preparing a proper dish that would satisfy his appetite he could put into actually working. From watching Kojiro cook for other people, or for everyone, it looked easy. It’s just mixing ingredients together, a certain… specific way, sometimes frying it, boiling it, baking it, Hell, even microwaving it.

So, baking a cake shouldn’t be too difficult.

But were his hypothetical theories misguided.

There was a lot of fumbling around. They followed the recipe, but they didn’t know specific measurements. So whatever looked like “enough,” was tossed into the batter.

“Gently break the eggs.” Langa told Reki. “Like this,” he gestured, breaking the egg against the counter and letting the yolk fall into the bowl.

Reki repeated Langa’s action. Only for the egg to crack because he slammed it too hard, making a mess of the counter.

“...Oops.”

“I preheated the oven.” Kaoru said, “approximately three-fifty.”

“I got the flour!” Miya said, and he dumped it in the batter. Until Langa took a closer look at it and his face paled.

“Miya wait!” He exclaimed, and took the bottle out of Miya’s hands.

“What? I thought it said flour.”

“Uh.” Reki held up another bottle of a white, powdered substance. “I think… this is the flour.”

Kaoru peered at the bottle in Langa’s hands. “What bottle is this? It doesn’t have a label on it.”

“Only one way to find out.” Miya said.

“H-How… are we going to do that?” Langa questioned.

“Reki. Stick your hand out.”

“Why?”

“Just do it!”

Reki obliged. Miya poured a little bit of it into his hand. “Okay, lick it.”

“I can’t lick this!”

“Why? Are you scared?”

“I just don’t think it’d be safe to just— lick ingredients.”

“And I’ve tasted chalk before. Did I die?” Miya asked, “no, I didn’t. Lick it.”

The rest of them were looking at Reki. He refused to do it. Kaoru rolled his eyes.

“Give me this.” He took the bottle from Miya and poured some in his hand. Then he brought it to his lips, getting a taste.

“Hm.” Kaoru hummed, “well… this is salt.”

“SALT?!”

“Yes.”

“Well these two have different color lids.” Langa observed, “maybe they did it that way to differentiate between the two.”

“How much of it did you put in there?” Kaoru asked.

“N-Not much…” Reki laughed. “So now that we have the flour, we can put this in instead. It cancels out like PEMDAS!”

"I don't think it works like that..." Miya frowned.

"You never know until you try!"

"What would Joe do?" Langa asked.

"We're not focusing on what Joe would do. This is how we do it." Kaoru said. "And I say, we can have a cake that's a little bit salty."

They didn’t think much of it. They started dumping the flour into the batter, coupled with more sugar. It sparked an even greater mess in the kitchen, and they got covered in flour from head to toe. At some point, they stopped following the recipe completely and had Langa tell them the stuff they needed to do next. By the time they actually got their cake pan full of the disaster they mixed together the clock struck one in the morning. To think with more hands, Kaoru believed they’d be done in an hour tops.

He’d never been so exhausted, and his calligraphy events tired him plenty. But if this was what Kojiro had to do for a living, he’d fucking kill himself. He was sure they mixed up numerous ingredients and didn’t take the right measurements. But there were so many utensils and kitchenware and they were in a hurry to have the cake baked by tomorrow for Kojiro’s birthday surprise. It was clear that they were pretending to know what they were doing, and it made them progress.

But the kitchen turned into a bloodbath in the process. And Kaoru wanted to come here to drink his frustrations away in peace and quiet, contemplating why he can’t strangle difficult clients who paid him good money just to tell him to do things over and over. Rinse and repeat.

Instead, he was helping three teenagers bake a birthday cake. For someone very important to them. He’s not even doing remotely what he came here for.

They were sitting on the floor, looking like they just survived a disastrous food fight and a dump truck heaved a fuck ton of flour on them.

“Why is baking so hard?” Reki asked.

“Probably because we can’t cook.” Miya answered.

“Huh… makes sense.”

“But we got it in the oven.” Langa said, “...so we did something right… right?”

“Yeah…” Reki yawned.

“Carla,” Kaoru held his bracelet up, “what is the current time?”

“Four-thirty.”

“Are we done yet?”

“No.” Langa said, “we have to add the icing and… decorate it.” he said, “also, the stuff after.”

“What?” Reki asked tiredly.

“The stuff. We went shopping for. Didn’t you have it?”

Reki’s eyes widened, snapping out of his tired daze. “I was supposed to take it?”

“What do you mean, you slime?” Miya shot up, “you didn’t take the bag of stuff we bought?!”

“Hold on, stop.” Kaoru put up a hand, “specify this stuff.”

“Decorations!” Miya explained, “like party poppers, confetti, streamers, we even had a banner!”

“Oh crap!” Reki placed his hands on his head, “I left the bag at the store!”

“Oh no.” Langa sighed, “Reki…”

“I’m sorry! I thought one of you would take it so I dunno, we all just walked out and left on our boards! I didn't realize until later we showed up here without it.”

“I could do something.” Kaoru spoke. They looked at him crazy. “I don’t think we’d have time considering how early Kojiro is going to open in the morning. But I can try to create a banner. I practically do this all the time at work. People need banners for everything. I can do it. I can do it.” He said, with his hair all disheveled he looked deranged crawling over to the teenagers and they even slightly shifted away.

“You want to make a banner for Joe now?” Reki asked.

“Forget the stupid banner. A store-bought one isn’t custom made. I’m a fucking calligrapher. What I make would be a hundred-times better. It’s made by me.” Kaoru said. “As soon as we finish baking this cake, we work on the banner. We do everything here, tonight. I don’t care how long it takes. Kojiro deserves this much.” he blurted out.

They all looked at him, and he flushed. Jesus Christ, his lack of sleep plus working himself to the bone was causing him to say reckless things without abandon. “I-I can get my stuff. We’ll be okay if we at least have something.”

At this point, Kaoru just needed to do something to clear his head. So far, meddling in the boys’ business seemed to be helping. It was nowhere near relaxing as having a wine date and carbonara with Kojiro while he talked shit about stupid fucking clients, and Kojiro in return talked about stupid fucking customers and regulars that got on his damn nerves. But Kojiro wasn’t here, and Kaoru admittedly missed his presence. He had a rough day the day before his birthday, and no one had to go through that.

Since they were both working late, with Kaoru in the studio and Kojiro at work— they hadn’t gotten the chance to see each other either.

No, you idiot. Kaoru thought, you don’t get to be stressed, or tired. Not when he had an important day tomorrow.

So, they got to finishing up Kojiro’s cake. Kaoru poured himself a glass of wine for extra fuel. He said he’d be back. Then he drove back to the studio to grab all the supplies he needed, including banner paper.

They used the restaurant as their personal workspace.

The cake was finished by the time Kaoru came back. He had his large brush with him and they assembled like a team of superheroes to get started on Kojiro’s birthday banner. Normally, he’d do this himself. But this was a group effort— while the boys spent their time making the cake, Kaoru wanted to contribute to something of his own, and it’d only be fair if they returned the favor. Reki was an aspiring artist himself, he and Kaoru had a lot in common when it came to stuff related to skateboards. Langa and Miya were there for the ride, and Kaoru thought he’d hand them brushes too and let them go wild.

The sun was rising when they were finished. Splashing flicks of colored and black paint coupled with drawings all over Kaoru’s neat handwriting, making a mess.

“Okay,” Kaoru breathed, “...Kojiro will arrive in approximately two-hours, therefore, we have two hours to clean this entire place until not a single spec of dirt is noticeable.” he stated.

Reki, Langa, and Miya nodded.

“Let’s go!”

They scattered in different directions, scrubbing down the restaurant from every corner.

Kaoru wasn’t sure how they ended up falling asleep during it, but they were around the counter. Leaning on each other. Reki was sleeping on the counter top with his whole body lying on it. Snot bubble forming and his mouth hanging open. Langa was sleeping with head on top of Reki's thigh, sitting with his back facing the counter, head tilted up. Miya was curled up against Kaoru’s side, snoring quietly. Kaoru’s arms folded on the counter and his head buried in them.

The cake was in the fridge and they left the banner upstairs to dry after they cleaned everything.

The door jingled, and someone walked in. Kaoru was the first to wake up.

“Hey, I forgot something here so I thought I’d drop by—” Hiromi blinked when he saw the sleeping entourage at the front counter, “—am I missing out on something?”

“Oh my God— Kojiro—” Kaoru sat up straight, and Miya almost fell off his chair. Reki jolted awake and fell off the counter, causing Langa to lean back and bang his head against it with an English swear. Kaoru shot up from his seat, “I can explain—” he stopped when he did a double-take, where are his fucking glasses? He saw that they fell on the floor beneath his feet, bending down to pick it up and put them back on.

“Hiromi-san?”

“Did you guys have some kind of sleepover without me?” Hiromi asked, a little offended.

“What time is it?” Miya grumbled.

“Ow…” Reki groaned from where he lay on the floor. Langa jolted into a standing position.

“Joe’s coming in fifteen minutes!” He cried.

“W-Wait wait wait! Hold on!” Hiromi barked, “stop!” they halted in their tracks, shaking the sleep out of their system. “What’s going on?!”

“We were working on a birthday surprise for Joe last night!” Reki said, “we snuck in—”

“—you snuck in?!”

“—long story—” Reki interrupted, “—but we spent all night baking a cake and then we were supposed to have decorations and stuff to have a little thing before the restaurant opens up but turns out I forgot it at the store so Cherry offered to make a banner himself, so we spent even longer doing that and then we had to clean up the place and then we ended up falling asl—”

“—no time for details.” Kaoru walked up to Hiromi, placing his hands on the other man’s broad shoulders. “If you would like to join us, do so now, because we do not have much time left.”

“Oh! Well you guys could’ve told me sooner!” Hiromi said, “I prepared a bouquet this morning! I was gonna hand it to him later but—”

“—can you get it now?” Kaoru questioned.

“I can, but—”

“You have five minutes.”

“For fuck’s sake.” Hiromi said. “Guess I’ll be right back.”

As soon as he left, Kaoru directed the boys upstairs. They got the banner from the break room, coming down to hang it up front at the bar area. They covered it with a blanket taken from upstairs so it wasn’t revealed until after they did the surprise.

“The cake.” He said. They bolted for the kitchen to carefully bring the cake out the fridge, setting it on the counter.

“It’s missing something.” Langa said.

“Yeah! Candles!” Miya replied, “which someone was supposed to bring!”

“Well I forgot!”

“Surely Kojiro has candles here for birthday events.” Kaoru snapped his fingers. They glanced at each other, running back to the kitchen to rummage through the drawers. They tried their best not to leave anything disorganized, finally finding a pack of unopened candles.

“Are we gonna light like, fifty candles?” Miya asked.

“No, just one.” Kaoru said.

“I don’t… think he’s that old.” Langa responded, “...right?”

“Lighter.” Kaoru directed. Reki found a match sitting in one of the drawers. They worked on lighting the candle. Hiromi came back with the flower bouquet, and now they had to work on turning off all the lights. The closed sign was still up, and usually Kojiro was the first to come in before his employees arrived a little closer to opening time. They were scrambling to get the bouquet down next to the cake, and in the process they lit one of the flowers on fire. Reki grabbed a cloth to smack at it until the fire went out.

“Someone call Kojiro.” Kaoru demanded.

“I’ll do it!” Reki said, and he pulled his phone out. They waited while he tapped his screen and called Kojiro’s phone number. The rings were the only sound heard in the room.

“Hey Red, mornin’! What’s up?”

“Joe?” Reki said. "You called?"

"No? I thought you called me."

"Pssh, I'm pretty sure you must've butt-dialed me or something."

"But when my phone rang I saw it was a call from you."

"Really? That's so crazy! Ow," he was interrupted by Kaoru bonking him in the head.

"What was that?"

Kaoru motioned for him to keep talking. “U-Uh..." Reki laughed, "I meant wow it's so nice out today."

"You're outside?"

"No... yes. I mean, no."

"Yes and no?"

"Where are you?” Reki asked in a panic.

“I’m on my way to work. Sorry if it took me a bit to answer, I just got in my car."

“No problem. Just, like, wondering. Since I uh, lost your spare key.”

“Really? Again? I just gave you a new one like two days ago.”

“I uh, dropped it in the toilet.” A stretch of silence save for the facepalm Miya did. “Oopsie! By the way, totally just asking for like, no reason at all. Haha. No reason. I’m definitely not at the restaurant. I'm... Like. Somewhere, not there."

“...Okay?” Kojiro laughed, “Well if you wanna come now, you can. I can give you another spare key, but don’t expect it to come fast.”

“Great! Great.” Hiromi sneezed loudly, and Kaoru smacked him in the head with his fan. Glaring at him. He was about to shout “ow,” but opted to do it silently lest Kaoru would smack him again, nearly blowing their cover.

“What was that?”

“That was me.” Reki blurted, “allergy season, am I right?”

“That was pretty loud.”

“Yeah well, I sneeze loud.”

"Only Shadow sneezes like that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hiromi grumbled. He flinched when Kaoru threatened to bat his head.

Langa was checking out the flowers. Then he knocked it back on accident trying to take one out, nearly tipping the cake over. They rushed so fast to save it from falling, pushing it back up. They started arguing with each other, and they suffered Kaoru's wrath because he had to smack all of them on their heads with his fan. Scolding them.

“Helloooooo? Little Red? I'm kinda drivin' here! So I can't be on the phone for too long!"

"Ow! Stop hitting us!"

"That hurts!"

"Hitting? What hurts? You okay?"

“Seeyoubye!” Reki quickly said, hanging up the call.

“What is wrong with you three?!” Kaoru hissed. "He would've found out we've snuck in here!"

“Sorry..." Langa whispered, "I just wanted to look at the pretty flowers..."

“If any of this drops I’m going to murder all of you.” Kaoru warned. “Guard it with your life.”

They gulped.

By the time the door jingled, they all ducked beneath the counter. Hiromi holding the cake, Langa, Miya, and Reki holding the large bouquet together.

Someone quietly farted.

"...Sorry," Langa said, very, very quietly. "I stole Joe's leftover poutine he had in the fridge last night."

"Langa!" Reki whispered.

"I was hungry."

"Jesus Christ." Hiromi grimaced, "that shit's potent, man. How much did you eat?"

"I'm gonna be sick." Miya covered his mouth.

"Shh!" Kaoru shushed them loudly. "Everyone, just relax."

Another fart ripped through the room.

"You're relaxing too much."

They heard whistling.

The coast was clear.

A familiar voice started singing an upbeat Italian song, well, belting it practically to the singing Gods up there. Chairs were being put down and moved around, tables shifting. A lot of singing. It sounded like he didn't hear them at all.

"Sounds like Italian opera music." Miya commented. They glanced at each other.

At least Kojiro was in a good mood this morning. Which was good. But the singing was so surprising that it was almost hard for the others to stay silent. Reki and Miya were trying hard not to laugh, but if they did they knew Kaoru would murder them. Langa tried to stick his finger in the cake, only for his hand to get swatted.

"Does he do this every morning?" Hiromi mouthed to Kaoru, who fought the urge to roll his eyes behind his head. He shook his head, pleading for Hiromi not to speak about this any further than what they're bearing to witness.

Kojiro was singing very loud.

No one peeped a fucking word.

Kaoru tried hard not to cringe. They were looking at him, waiting on his cue. He nodded, putting up a finger. On the count of three, he signaled silently.

He put up a finger.

One.

Two.

Three.

They bounced up from their hiding place.

“BUON COMPLEANNO!”

“Cazzo—” Kojiro was having a whole dance choreography putting the chairs down. His singing stopped immediately when he saw five figures standing behind the bar, and he screeched, pitched, that he was sent toppling over and busting his ass. The chair and table fell over with him.

“Joe?!”

He didn’t take the birthday surprise well.

They might have scared him. Too much.

“We’re really sorry.” Langa said afterward, offering the flowers as an apology rather than his actual gift.

“It’s fine, Snow! You’ve already apologized like a thousand times.” Kaoru was placing a bandaid on Kojiro’s head, where he hit it on the table mid-fall. He winced, and Kaoru swatted him in the arm.

“Hold still, dummy.”

“I’m trying! Your hand tickles!”

“You’re lucky this cut isn’t bad enough it needs stitches.”

“We feel really bad.” Reki said, “we didn’t think we’d scare you.”

“It’s because of his awful singing.” Kaoru deadpanned.

“My singing was not awful, okay?!”

“Well if you stopped singing for two seconds, you wouldn’t have been so terrified.” Kaoru muttered.

“Are you using the cute Hello Kitty bandaid?”

“...Yes.”

“Great.” Kojiro whistled, “that banner’s lookin’ pretty sick though!” Other than the beautifully crafted BUON COMPLEANNO, KOJIRO written proudly by Kaoru himself— Reki doodled Kojiro on his skateboard, and even drew his designs around the banner. The others added splotches of color for the Hell of it to match the aesthetics of the restaurant.

“What do you think about the cake?” Miya asked hopefully.

“Uh…”

The cake itself was an abomination. It barely had much of a round shape, with icing splattered around it in the sloppiest fashion possible. There was an attempt made to spell happy birthday but the lettering somewhat melted and looked misplaced, plus they ran out of icing in the process. The cake was by no means made by a professional baker, or an expert, and a rush job toward the end even. Something it shouldn’t have taken them so long to do, but Kojiro smiled and everyone held their breaths. Even Kaoru, whose hands were still resting on his shoulders after putting a stupid Hello Kitty bandaid above his right eyebrow.

“It’s awesome. You guys are definitely the better chefs here. I mean, wow, you made this for me?” They all sighed in relief. “And I thought everyone was plannin’ somethin’ small! You didn’t have to do all this.”

“Cherry helped us.” Langa said.

“When did you have the time to do this?”

Everyone looked at each other. Last night, they spent all night, barely sleeping a wink. But they decided Kojiro didn’t need to know that.

“Langa's house, uh last night!” Reki laughed, “we tried really hard to keep it a surprise. Last-minute thing.”

“So… you didn’t really lose your spare key then. Damn, Red!” Kojiro laughed, “got me there in the first half, not gonna lie.”

Hiromi clapped Kojiro on the back, “All for you, buddy. Enjoy it!”

“Sadly, I can’t.” Kojiro sighed. “I have to open up for work.” Since he fell, they didn’t really get to actually sit down and celebrate because most of it was spent helping Kojiro onto a chair and stopping his forehead from bleeding. Customers wouldn’t like it if the place looked like a crime scene.

“Aw man! We can’t even stay closed for another ten minutes? Twenty?”

“Nope. I gotta change into a new shirt, anyway. But we can celebrate after work.” Kojiro clapped his hands, standing up. “How’s that sound?”

It sounded like a promise.

"Bring it in." Kojiro spread his arms. "You have three minutes."

They barrelled into Kojiro and Kaoru so hard that they just ended up tumbling to the floor again, a dogpile of bodies and tangled limbs, and they started laughing so hard that their stomachs hurt.

When Jun, Marie, and Shohei came in, Kojiro only invited them casually into their group hug.

While it was Kojiro’s birthday— it was still any other day, meaning he had to work. Just as Hiromi did. Kaoru would go back to the studio, but he thought he’d bring his work over to the restaurant. He mentioned that he definitely needed to leave and freshen up, for reasons.

Reki, Langa, and Miya wanted to stick around and help. They claimed he shouldn’t be working on his birthday and how lame that was, so they offered to do the work for him. He was the boss, and he needed money. He can't just take off no matter how badly he wanted to (and Kaoru flaunting his money at him wasn't going to make him budge) so of course, he was going to work.

Kojiro didn’t let them do everything, but he didn’t want to kick them out. Customers who knew the boys liked it when they waited tables, manned the register, or served them. They actually knew how to do it pretty well over the months. Some regulars who Kojiro was familiar with gave him their birthday wishes, some even dropped by to give gifts.

His family dropped by, Valentina and Montello who just wanted to leave their gifts and stick around for tonight. Kaoru saw the two of them sneak in. Someone wrapped their arms around his shoulders.

"Ruru!" Valentina hugged him tightly, "you're here!"

"Hi Val." Kaoru snorted. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We just landed from Osaka this morning." Montello high-fived Kaoru, "we're just gonna say hi. Mom's coming by in a bit."

"JoJo's working today, huh?" Valentina asked.

"Is it even a surprise at this point?" Kaoru rolled his eyes.

"Of course his stupid ass working." Montello scoffed.

"Uncle Monte! Auntie Val!" Reki whispered, "hey!"

"Yo, where's JoJo?" Montello asked, hushed. He put a finger to his lips. "He doesn't know we're here."

"He's... in the kitchen." Langa pointed.

They scared the shit out of him while he was in the kitchen.

"What up little bro?!"

"FUCK! You FUCKING ASSHOLES!" A fight broke out in the kitchen and everyone watched it go down, unfazed. This was just another typical Nanjo family reunion, the siblings beating the shit out of each other very lovingly.

His mother came to surprise them lastly. She was running late, gift box in hand. "Am I late to the party?" she came with two tiny children at her side, Nari, who belonged to Valentina, and Chiaki, that belonged to Montello. Both holding her hands.

"Just in time." Kaoru said, over the heated Italian swear words being thrown back and forth in the next room over.

An oven mitten was sent flying across the room.

"Uncle Joe haf birfday!" Nari clapped.

"Birfday!" Chiaki threw a hand in the air excitedly.

Another loud crash.

"Can you give us five minutes?" Marie asked nervously.

"Oh, don't mind them. This always happens." Alina laughed. "They just miss each other."

"Joe's family is awesome." Miya commented.

One thing Kaoru picked up on practically living with the Nanjos throughout their teenage years was that they were naturally just loud. Every single one of them. They were the type of people to shout when the person was right there within range. Hence why Kojiro got in trouble during quiet reading time because he was yelling at Kaoru in things he could've just said in his whisper voice. But Kojiro struggled with a whisper voice. It's why all the kids on the playground flocked to him when they played tag games, why everyone fought to sit next to him in homeroom just to hear him crack jokes. No wonder why Kaoru's family wasn't very fond of that one family a couple blocks down that always set fires during barbeques and cursed each other out for sport. It's always did you hear what the Nanjos did this time and you'd never believe what that family did again and Kaoru's mother would tell him to focus on studying while they gossiped endlessly.

Kaoru was drawn to the loudness.

His family was too awfully quiet, kempt, and stiff. Kojiro bounced all over the place. He was the sun. Kaoru no longer saw the moon every night, darkness brightening by the clear, sunny day. He wanted to bask in it for as long as possible.

One person who the Nanjo family quirks didn't rub off on was Alina. In fact, Kojiro joked that maybe his dad fell in love with her because he met someone who finally wouldn't burst his eardrums. But they graced her presence with hugs and kisses, making a big deal out of it in general. The whole family was here to drop by, it seemed. Except, for the half-brother the family didn't talk to. But it was Alina's idea they bring the party to the restaurant instead.

They were going to blow the whole place up. Montello and Valentina promised to come with drinks, Hiromi said he'd even ask Oka if he had time to stop by. ("As a friend, obviously." "Yeah, we ain't that stupid." Kojiro said flatly.)

Regarding the accident earlier, Kojiro was happy.

Any traces of exhaustion from the day prior wiped away completely, sticking around to chat with people. Making them laugh with jokes. The music from the radio playing that had him skipping around and jutting his hips that made his employees chuckle at him. If their boss was in a good mood, then they were too. Kaoru was able to continue working with a fond smile on his face, minding his business through the bustling energy of the busy afternoon shift but the vibrant energy was contagious. He even caught Kojiro winking at him when they met each other’s gazes, passing through. Kaoru barely fought a blush on his cheeks, clearing his throat and going back to work.

No celebration was allowed until closing, but clearly, Kojiro was enjoying himself. Plus, they were keeping him company. The banner was kept up the entire time while the cake was put back in the fridge. Oka came with Sketchy, who got to wear a party hat and take part of the party shenanigans.

The champagne bottle (non-alcoholic) wasn’t popped until later, when everyone had left and it was just their little breakfast club they've somehow formed, plus Kojiro's family. Kojiro's crew stayed a little bit, and then they left because Kojiro practically shooed them out and said they deserved to be let out early, he'd handle the closing.

Now they could really start their celebration. Kojiro put on a Hibachi-style cooking show for his small party of guests, knife juggling, lots of fire, although he was supposed to be the one watching this kind of thing happen he was in a good mood. Plus, they loved it when he did cool cooking tricks in front of them.

He wasn't kidding when he said Nanjo family parties were lit. When you were bred from a family skilled in culinary arts they brought the cooking show to your dinner table. They took a lot of videos. There was karaoke singing. Everyone belting the lyrics to Vengabus or Kojiro rapping Nicki Minaj's verse to Monster without slipping up once, good music, dancing, yes, even Kaoru could dance and pretty fucking good when tipsy. They put on the classics, the Cha Cha Slide, Cupid Shuffle, Macarena, Cotton Eyed Joe, and had the time of their lives. They played trivia games, ate lots of food, funny stories to tell. Reki trying to teach Alina how to skate, ("don't kill my mama now," Kojiro joked, everyone laughed but he was being serious.)

Montello and Kojiro loved to square up with each other. Kaoru remembered Alina telling them that they were by far the most competitive in the family. It'd always start off with a "you wanna go right now?" and the both of them would pull their pants up high and raise their fists.

"Here we go," Valentina rolled her eyes.

"If you guys are gonna wrestle I have to spectate the match! You gotta follow wrestling protocol!" Hiromi said. "Former professional wrestler speaking here!"

"You were only in a wrestling club at your local neighborhood." Oka laughed.

Hiromi turned beet red at the sick burn. "Oka!"

"Wait wait, I wanna do it!" Reki used a fist as a microphone. "Introducing the heavyweight champion, Nanjo Kojiro!" he mocked the voice of a commentator, and like it were an actual wrestling match Kojiro ripped his shirt off and came out of the kitchen, flexing his muscles and preening at the cheers coming from Oka, Hiromi, and the kids.

"You have fat now." Kaoru said, "you're eating too much carbs."

"You're ruining my badass entrance, babe!"

"And coming up next! The Great! The Mighty! Nanjo Montello!"

With a shout, Montello came barrelling through the kitchen doors pumping his fists in the air.

"...Is his family always like this?" Oka asked Kaoru, casually fanning himself.

"You tell me." He joked.

They were being serious officiating this match. Two grown shirtless men suplexing each other for fun and just because it was family tradition.

Montello and Kojiro were always play-fighting, they did at the family restaurant because Monte was always picking on Kojiro and Valentina was the one who yanked them both by the ears and told them to knock it off.

Twenty years later nothing had changed, the kids would jump on top of them as they all wrestled each other. Sweaty and taking their shirts off to be like the cool adults. Kaoru, Oka, and Alina sat there laughing their asses off. If anyone were to walk in and see what was going on they'd be beyond terrified.

They even had a whole arm-wrestling tournament and lost their shit when Kaoru beat the both of them one-handed despite claiming this was ridiculous. He just wanted to end all the gloating.

The gifts Kojiro received was stacked behind the bar, he only got around to opening close family and friends' first before he got around to gifts given by S admirers and regulars who he was well-acquainted with.

Kojiro had a total of two birthday surprises, but the second one made up for the disaster that was the first.

They did a toast and had a spaghetti taco birthday dinner special. It's a funny story how that even came to be a genuine special on the restaurant menu, Reki had shoved spaghetti in his taco from some taco place he dropped by because he was running late for work, Kojiro had stopped him and asked to take a bite of it out of curiosity. He thought it was the best thing he ever tasted. The dish was mediocre looking at best, but fuck, it tasted heavenly.

The party didn't leave until after ten, when he parted with his family, and the kids needed to get home on time. Kojiro told Hiromi to take them home as his way of eagerly saying that as much as he appreciated their company it was overwhelming to have a full party of boisterous children to look after for several hours without going insane. (“Make uncle Shadow do everything, right?” “I’ll give you free meals for a week if you take them home tonight, please.” “...alright! Fine!”)

Kaoru soon started pouring wine for himself after the bottle of champagne was finished. Kojiro saw them out, waving goodbye. Leaving him and Kaoru alone at the restaurant.

“Tired of a little fun already?” Kaoru teased, “that’s unlike you.”

Kojiro rested a hand on the door, contemplating. He turned around, knowing. “...so, I noticed someone placed a whisk in the fridge this morning.”

Kaoru tensed, sitting up slowly. “...I wonder how that got there.” he snorted. “Perhaps one of your employees had a lot to drink the night before?” he sipped his glass, averting his gaze.

“You always look away from me when you’re frontin’ on me like that.”

“Excuse me?”

Kojiro slowly approached him, hands on his hips. “Where’s your hair tie?”

Kaoru ran his fingers through his hair, realizing his hair tie slipped off at some point last night. He left his apartment without his fucking hair tie.

“Not only that,” he said, “The icing was thrown in the garbage. Some of it was on the oven. A few things were misplaced where they shouldn’t be. I always organize my stuff specifically in a way that me and my crew would find things easier. The salt and the flour was switched around. Also, my poutine was missing and I have a vague idea of who'd eat the whole thing knowing the consequences that'd come after that. But what really gave it away was when I found out from Mrs. Sara that three kids walked into my restaurant last night when she was closing her place. Just this morning on my run.”

Kaoru cleared his throat, placing his finished glass aside. “Maybe she was mistaken.” he said quietly, voice almost cracking embarrassingly. Kojiro can’t know they destroyed his kitchen. That was the most important rule broken.

“Oh, don’t worry. She took pictures and sent them to me. You know we’re really good friends.” Kojiro stated. He showed Kaoru a picture on his phone, the three boys awkwardly positioned at the door of the restaurant.

Kaoru had been drinking, so any excuse at this point was grasping at straws.

“You can’t even see their faces.” he gestured lamely.

"So three random people I don't know walked into my restaurant last night."

"Maybe it was a burgular."

"I've only given out nine spare keys. Four for myself and my employees, the rest is for you, Hiromi, and the kids. Maybe my family, but they only visit like every other holiday so they don't count."

"What about those S admirers?"

“Ru,” Kojiro said sweetly, “cara, she also took a picture of you walking in.”

Kaoru stared at Kojiro, dread washing over him when Kojiro swiped right and presented a photo of him clearly walking into the restaurant as well.

Damn it, Sara.

“That wasn’t me.” Kaoru didn’t even know why he kept going anymore.

“Ru, we’ve known each other for twenty years. I think I’m sure I know how my best friend and partner for life looks like. Especially when he's lyin' to me. You didn't bake the cake at Langa's house. You guys baked the cake in my kitchen, didn't you? You pulled a sneak attack.”

"Sneak attack? First of all, Mrs. Sara just has a big fat crush on you."

"She's a seventy-three year old bakery owner."

"She's always like," Kaoru giggled like a the teenager schoolgirl most of the women that came into the restaurant did, to oogle instead of ordering food. "Oh Kojiro-kun would you help me lift all these boxes I can't possibly do it all by myself," he dramatically flailed back and wiped the sweat off his brow.

"She's an old lady! Do you expect me to just let her do that by herself? She's recently divorced y'know? Douchebag just up and left her to look after that entire bakery by herself."

"That's already a red flag."

"She snapped a photo of you because she was just being a concerned neighbor."

“I don't appreciate your blatant accusations," Kaoru slurred, "Secondly, I think your eyes have been blinding you all these years. You may need glasses. Mrs. Sara is also delusional. She has mistaken you for her husband like multiple times. Don’t listen to her. Absolutely none of this is true. Maybe you put the whisk in the fridge."

"For you to pull a no you, that tells me you had too much to drink. I usually do that." Kojiro took away Kaoru's glass.

"My defense is that you're stupid. What you're saying doesn't even make any sense. Those are clearly doppelgangers." Kaoru laughed. "Silly Koji."

Kojiro wasn't laughing. "Where's the verdict?"

"I am the verdict. Case closed."

"The kitchen was completely in tact when I left." Kojiro said. "I can give you a list of how many things I noticed were moved this morning, suspiciously around the time I show up."

"Your proof is a load of shit." Kaoru scoffed.

“You even left the wine you took from the bar on the counter. So I'm guessing you didn’t come here to only have a drink.” Kojiro said, eyeing Kaoru. “...At first, that is? Hm?”

“Okay listen, you asshole butthead.” Kaoru drunkenly shifted his seated position, admitting that he had a little too much during their celebration. “If I hadn’t come into the restaurant in time they would’ve destroyed the place entirely and I know that’s part of your stupid fucking rules, so I, being the responsible adult that I clearly am— had to help them with baking the cake— which we haven’t even eaten anyway because you had to open and you decided to fall and hurt yourself like an idiot— shhh I’m speaking!” he shrieked when Kojiro opened his mouth, wildly waddling a finger in his face.

“I don’t care what you say,” Kaoru breathed, “I’ve never baked a damn cake before and they needed my assistance, and I know it looks fucking hideous. We spent hours on that cake, and then instead of going home we worked on a banner because Reki forgot all the decorations at the fucking store so I didn’t even get to shower until morning!” he stood up, poking Kojiro in the chest accusingly, “and I didn’t—” he hiccuped, “—have the heart to tell them it wasn’t a good idea to just sneak in and bake your fucking cake because you had such a rough day yesterday and they were only doing it because they wanted to make you happy, and it’s your fault we destroyed your kitchen and misplaced everything! So if you give them a warning and revoke their spare key privileges give me a warning too because they can't take the fall alone when I'm responsible all because of your stupid birt—”

Kojiro silenced Kaoru by wrapping his arms around his wrists, weakly shoving at Kojiro’s chest and blaming him with so much drunken hostility and emotions and God he looked so handsome and beautiful and calm and Kaoru didn’t know why he was the frustrated one. Not until Kojiro pulled him close by the waist and sealed their lips together firmly.

His words died in his throat, a surprise yelp leaving his lips. He still tasted those ridiculous spaghetti tacos they ate earlier, and yet he melted into it with a sigh. He stumbled a little in his step, and Kojiro held him tighter.

“I wasn’t—” Kaoru whispered when they parted, “—I wasn’t finished yet you jerk.”

“Kaoru.” The way Kojiro said his name, low and sweet, sent shivers down Kaoru’s spine. “I ain’t mad, y’know?”

“What?”

“Yeah, I sensed something would’ve went down while I was gone. But you guys went through all of that just to surprise me. You stayed here all night making that banner. You have any idea how happy that makes me?”

“Y-You’re not— mad?”

“No!” Kojiro laughed, “if anything I’m impressed! I’m sorry about the scare this morning that kinda ruined the surprise. A lot was going on today, and we couldn’t do much. But this was the best day I had on a work day in ages. Celebration or not.” He gestured to the gifts left for him, shaking his head. “I kinda forgot about the shitty day I had yesterday.”

Kaoru didn’t know what else to say. He wasn’t good at that kind of stuff. The sappy stuff, hence why he kept birthday speeches vague and short. Something along the lines of another year and I haven’t killed you yet from how much you constantly aggravate me, happy birthday you clown or some other variation that had others laughing. But nowadays, celebrations were less loud, more cozy, done here where they could spend time together even if it’s for a couple hours.

“Reki didn’t actually drop your keys in the toilet.” He said, and Kojiro chuckled.

“I know, he told me earlier.”

“Well, he didn’t. I just thought I’d let you know.”

“Okay.” Kojiro had that charming smile on his face that made Kaoru want to gag, because he couldn’t handle how it did things to him. “Thanks for lettin’ me know.”

“Um.” Kaoru backed away, using the counter for leverage. “I actually got you a gift as well. I left it… upstairs,” he pointed up, “I stopped by my place to pick it up.”

“You gonna get it?”

“Yes— just—” Kaoru pushed Kojiro down on the stool, “wait here.” he ordered.

“Not goin’ anywhere, princess.” Kojiro was still smiling as if he were mocking him for his current state. Kaoru rolled his eyes, drifting toward the staircase and trudging upstairs. He did manage to find where he left the gift, because he’d been saving it for later to give to Kojiro. He came back downstairs, walking toward him with the gift and almost missing the seat next to him, so he smacked a hand on the counter and plopped down.

“Bon appe-titty.”

“It’s buon compleanno, but thank you.” Kojiro accepted the gift. He took Kaoru's hand and brought it to his lips for a kiss, which Kaoru jerked his hand away and batted at it. Surprisingly being his boyfriend he still pretended that Kojiro's affection was like the plague, so Kojiro waited to shower Kaoru in it and spoil him senseless in private. He probably had to hold all that love in his big heart for a long time today.

“Tomato tomahto.” Kaoru huffed. “Open it.” he smacked Kojiro’s chest, a little more affectionately because he felt guilty.

“Yes sir.” Kojiro snorted. He undid the ribbon, “ooh, I’m excited.” he said, lifting the lid open.

He saw what was encased inside, and he froze.

“No…” He whispered, “Kaoru, where’d you get this?”

“You remember that pathetic excuse of a waiter you fired?” Kaoru asked, “and then you found out he stole your favorite chef knife?”

“That was… a time, but yeah—”

“—you were sad about it for two weeks.”

“I wouldn’t say two weeks…” Kojiro denied bashfully.

“It was, probably even more than that.” Kaoru claimed, “anyway, you mentioned that it was a gift from your father, after—” he stopped himself from saying anymore. Kojiro went through a rough time after his passing, and he’d been taking it better since then. However, Kaoru was careful not to talk about it unprompted unless Kojiro had brought it up. He only started asking Kaoru recently to come and visit him where he was buried.

“After everything…” he settled with that, “So I did my best to find an exact model, it’s extremely old and I know it was basically like a family heirloom. It wasn’t easy. I made many visits. Put off work just to get my hands on it. I had to track down some guy all the way across town who was willing to sell the fucking thing I bid money on on some strange website. But I found it. Please don't say daaaaaaamn when you hear the price."

"Do I wanna know how much you paid for this?"

"Bitch. I'm fucking famous, rich, and pretty. Obviously, money isn't an issue. But it was a million yen."

"DAMN!" Kojiro shouted, "What in the Goddamn Hell did you do to pay that much?"

"It was an antique. A famous chef passed away and passed it to his friend who was ready to sell it. Of course there were idiots on the market ready to buy it so they could just pawn it off and put money back in their pockets, I wasn't going to let that stupid knife slip from my fucking hands no matter what. I spent over a month before your birthday bidding for that thing. I'd spill blood and blow something up if I had to."

He saw the revelation in Kojiro’s eyes when his gaze flickered up at Kaoru. Beautifully bright under the dimmed lights of the restaurant. Such an enamored violet that made him feel weak in the knees and breathless. They were so intense Kaoru had to look away.

"Baby... you didn't..."

“I know how much that knife meant to you. I had to find it! So if you come up with that bullshit excuse that I didn’t have to—” he shrieked when Kojiro wrapped his large, strong arms around Kaoru’s frame, lifting him up in a suffocating bear hug that knocked the wind out of his lungs.

His mind was running wild, heart pounding, smelling a hint of the shampoo Kojiro wore in his mussed mop of hair from working all day. He smelled so much of spices the scent was faint. “Kojiro!”

“Kaoru, Kaoru, Kaoru.” He spun Kaoru around, much like the way he did the first time he landed in Japan during his apprenticeship— the hardest time in Kaoru’s life. Accepting that he’d be separated from Kojiro from then on. “You’re amazing. God, I just wanna kiss you again. Ti amo amore mio—” he set Kaoru down on his feet, who was a little dizzy from all that spinning and Kojiro everywhere, invading his space, his senses, his thoughts, everything.

“You don’t hate it?” Kaoru asked, dazed.

“I love it!” Kojiro marveled, "makes me wanna make love to you on this floor. Right now."

"Absolutely not, that's disgusting."

"We've done it before."

"We're not doing it again."

“I never thought I’d get a chef knife like this ever again! I’ve been using this cheap knockoff I got at the store since, and it’s not the same my dad used to use but it helped! But this! This is perfect! The only birthday gift I could ever want… he’d be happy to know I’ve gotten my hands on another model again...” Kojiro sighed elatedly, "it's real, in my hands. This is like a gold trophy in the chef world, to keep and show off, but you can also use it however you want."

Kaoru sighed in relief, going lax in Kojiro’s arms. He wrapped his arms around his middle, burying his face in Kojiro’s chest. “Buongiorno, you big oaf.”

“Almost, but you’ve got the spirit.” Kojiro petted Kaoru’s hair, “thank you. For all this. Really. But I really think you should shower. You spent a whole day here.” he planted a fat kiss on the crown of Kaoru's head. Kaoru felt warm and fuzzy, and he wanted to vomit. He loved this man so much he could cry and until this day, it terrified him the lengths he'd go, just to see that goofy smile he wanted to smack off. Since they met as kids, the toothy grin Kojiro gave him when Kaoru assured him he wasn't a vampire out to suck his blood because of his pale skin.

“Make me.” He mumbled into Kojiro's chest.

"Make you? I'm the birthday boy. You should be spoilin' me instead."

"Too bad. I'm tired."

"I know. You worked hard today, tesoro. But we gotta get you home."

"Fight me."

"Don't think I wanna do that, baby. You'd kick my ass even when wasted."

"You're right, actually."

Kojiro snorted, a little breathy and rugged. “I’ll bring the cake with us. How’s that sound? We haven’t eaten it yet and I’ve been dyin’ to see how it tastes.” he said, voice soft and loving. Kaoru would rather stay here, basking in this warmth and solace. "You waited at work with me for so long, I'm all yours now."

Kaoru was convinced, then. “Fine.”

“I have to close up first. And take all these gifts upstairs. I’ll bring them home later."

“Since it’s midnight, you’re no longer the birthday boy.” Kaoru dried his hair up with a towel, meeting Kojiro in his living room. “You no longer receive special treatment.”

“Does that mean you start being mean to me again?”

“I always was.” The second shower of the night sobered him up, thankfully. He went after Kojiro because he refused to keep touching him after he bodyslammed everyone, and vice versa, during their wrestling matches earlier.

“Even after we had that hot makeout session on the counter? That sucks. You were like oh, yes Kojiro take me—"

"I'll fucking kill you." Kaoru swatted him with the towel, many times. "Stop making those noises! I have neighbors. Kojiro!" Kojiro fully expected Kaoru to chase him around with it, face red as cherries which Kojiro commented on as well to tease him about it.

“I can't believe you stayed at my restaurant all night. Stinky pants."

“You have no idea the Hell we went through to work on that surprise, Kojiro!”

Kojiro caught the towel before Kaoru could hit him again. He tugged Kaoru forward, twirling him around and catching him by the waist until their lips were inches apart. Kaoru’s hair in his face, still wet and unbrushed with pink, damp strands covering a part of his right eye.

Kojiro reached to brush some of it away. “I know,” he murmured, hushed. “But the best part of it all’s right here.” he smiled, “spending it with you.”

“Kojiro…”

“And even if it’s still midnight!” He stretched Kaoru’s arms, making them dance their way over to the kitchen as if they were in a ballroom— even though no music was playing. Kaoru found himself smiling anyway, going along with it, “let’s just pretend we’re spending a little more birthday time that we couldn’t because of work, can’t you give the birthday boy that much? Just a tiny bit?”

Kaoru let go of their hands. “Well you did bring the cake here.”

“Wanna try it now?”

He was kind of craving a dessert. “Let’s.”

Kojiro grabbed two plates. They gathered at the kitchen island.

“You brought the knife with you?” Kaoru asked tiredly.

“‘Course I did!” Kojiro flipped the knife up and caught it in his hand easily. He winked at Kaoru, who was unimpressed. He was excited to slice two pieces with his newly gifted cutlery, placing each on the separate plates. “Wow, cuts like a charm! I can’t wait to use this.”

“Only you would be excited to use a knife.”

“Don’t talk down on Bella like that. She’s sensitive.”

“You named it.”

“Her. She’s like a newborn. Treat her kindly, and gently.” Kojiro handed Kaoru a plate and a fork. He picked up his own.

“I apologize for how much of a nuisance your owner is.” Kaoru teased, “good luck with him.”

They both held up their plates.

"Qu'ils mangent de la brioche." Kojiro said.

"...I don't think that phrase works in this scenario. But okay."

“Cheers?” Kojiro asked instead. Kaoru shrugged. They bumped their plates together, and Kojiro went around the island to stand next to Kaoru. They both smiled at each other, dug their forks in and took a bite.

And it was disgusting.

In fact, so unappetizing it was nauseating. When Reki said he put a little bit of salt instead of flour, that was clearly an exaggeration.

It was like an entire bottle was dumped inside the cake. Plus it was so bitter. Practically sugarless. Not even the icing on top could save it, let alone the flavor of the cake’s mushy texture.

They looked at each other.

Then they both dropped their plates, booking it for the sink and everything they swallowed came right back up.

Lifting their heads, they turned around and leaned against the sink. Still feeling the salty abomination that invaded their taste buds and made a home there.

“Good cake.” Kojiro rasped. Since he preferred not to talk ill of the creation that took several hours of effort.

“Good cake.” Kaoru agreed weakly. He raked his fingers through his hair. Both of them a disheveled mess for a different reason. A bad cake tasting reason.

Neither of them spoke of it after that.

Kojiro broke the silence. “You want more wine to wash all that shit down?”

“Please.” Kaoru practically moaned.