Chapter Text
Ryunosuke would be the first to admit he wasn't the best with technology, he never had been. He had only upgraded to a smartphone in his second year of university, and not by his own will. He didn't think he was the best person to fix the printer, or even to assess the damage. He didn't have a printer at his house, and the one at the university library had worked every time he'd been forced to use it. But the glare of van Zieks upon hearing that something was wrong with the printer, so the case file he asked to be copied would ‘take a while longer’ had scared him into volunteering to fix it. The encouraging words from Susato, although nice, were not helping whatsoever and he could feel his nervous sweat getting worse by the seconds. Not to mention the room had gotten much louder in the last five minutes since the two of them had gone to the corner of the room to stare at the printer. In fact, every so often there was a loud, boisterous, infectious laugh floating through the air that sounded strangely familiar and-
“Naruhodo Ryunosuke?”
Oh God, it's-
He heard the sounds of boots on the laminate office floor and jumped as he felt a confident hand clap down on his shoulder.
“It is! Naruhodo Ryunosuke, as I live and breathe. It's been too long, my friend.”
Asogi. Asogi Kazuma. What the Hell? What the Hell?
Susato perked up. “Oh! Kazuma? Is everything okay?”
Kazuma smiled at her. “Of course it is!” He put his other hand on Susato's shoulder. “You didn't tell me the new hire was Naruhodo Ryunosuke.”
“I wasn't aware you two knew each other…”
She turned to look at Ryunosuke, who so far had said nothing despite the fact he was the main topic of conversation. “Uh-I mean, uh, yeah! It's good to see you, um, Asogi.”
“C'mon,” he pouted a little, leaning in closer and wrapping his arm around Ryunosuke's shoulders. “There's no need to be so formal, you can still call me Kazuma.”
“R-right. Kazuma.”
Ryunosuke swallowed at the sight of that bright smile and the squeeze on his shoulder. He didn't know if he'd be able to say anything else coherent.
“What are you two doing over here anyway?”
“Oh, right.” Susato sighed. “The printer isn't working and Lord van Zieks scared Naruhodo-san into fixing it for him.”
Ryunosuke started to sputter. “Wh-he. He didn't, like, scare me into-”
“Oh? I can take a look if you want?”
“Will you? I really don't know how it all works to be perfectly honest.” Susato crouched down at the side of the printer.
After his shoulders were released, Ryunosuke took a step back as Kazuma and Susato started messing with the printer; pulling parts out, tapping on the little screen, checking compartments. Ryunosuke didn't know how long he watched the two of them tinker with it, but eventually the papers Lord van Zieks needed started materialising on the section where the printed copies came out, so he assumed they had somehow fixed it.
Susato gave a polite bow. “Thank you, Kazuma.”
Ryunosuke joined her. “Er-yes. Thank you.”
“No problem! But I should be getting back to my own floor, unfortunately…” With a wave, Kazuma started to head back to the lift before turning back suddenly. “Oh, Ryunosuke. We should catch up. Over drinks? Do you still have the same number?”
Ryunosuke snapped his head up at his name. “Uh, yes!”
“Great! I'll see you later then.” Ryunosuke watched him walk back until he rounded the corner and disappeared from sight before he turned back to the printer and waited for all the pages to finish printing.
“So…” Susato started, “I didn't know you were acquainted with Kazuma.”
“Oh, yeah.” Ryunosuke nervously fiddled with the pen from his pocket. “We went to the same university. Had a few classes together.” He knew if he elaborated more he would say something he would regret.
“Really…?” Susato lifted her hand to her chin. “He made it sound like you were closer than that…”
“Well, he, you know.” He started to sweat as he thought about what he was about to admit. “We ate together sometimes. And studied together. He took my virginity and got me into law.”
“Oh, uh. What?”
“Sorry.” Ryunosuke avoided looking in her direction.
“Um…” she thought over her next words. “I think I should let you know that… Kazuma is my brother…”
Ryunosuke's stomach dropped. “Oh. He is?”
Susato laughed awkwardly. “Yes. But, it's nice to know he has a, um, friend in the office. I'm certain he'd be thrilled to catch up again.”
“I'm not so sure about that…” Ryunosuke watched as the last few papers finished printing. “...I'll get these to Lord van Zieks.”
“Right,” Susato nodded. “I'll see you later on in the day then.”
Ryunosuke sighed as he tried to neaten up the stack of printer warm papers.
His day was not going at all as he envisioned. After waking up late, he had no time to partake in breakfast, and by 11 o'clock, his stomach made sure to let everyone near his desk know. He had accidentally sent an email too early and had to write an apology email as well as rewrite the original email. He had run into and made unofficial plans with the one guy he never wanted to see again, embarrassed himself in front of Susato, who probably wouldn't want to eat lunch together anymore, and now he had to hand something over to van Zieks, who was definitely in a pissier mood than usual.
He knocked on the door of van Zieks' office before entering.
“Here, sir,” he said, placing them on the desk.
Van Zieks leafed through the pages as Ryunosuke began to leave. “These are in the wrong order.”
Ryunosuke sighed. On a good day, he quite enjoyed the company of van Zieks. Despite his imposing appearance and generally standoffish disposition, he wasn't as scary as he seemed. However, this was not a good day for Ryunosuke. It wasn't even an okay day. So, instead of offering to sort through the papers or fix them or whatever van Zieks was asking for in a roundabout way, he just continued on his way out of the office, pretending he didn't hear. If he was too lazy to fix them himself, he could find someone else to do it.
After getting back to his seat, he laid his head down on the desk. Maybe he could fake a stomach ache and go home early, or make up some excuse about picking Iris up from school (he had learnt that she was a weak spot for van Zieks). Really, this day was not going well at all. He just wanted to return home and sleep the rest of the day. And Asogi Kazuma was just the awful icing on the awful cake.
Asogi Kazuma… Still as handsome and charismatic and likeable as ever it seemed. He really had hoped to never run into him again after strategically avoiding him for the last two months of university and ignoring all his calls and messages. Apparently, whatever star Ryunosuke was born under had cursed him with the worst luck though, seeing as he had to be reunited with his gay awakening in ENGLAND of all places. And working in the same building too? Really, what were the odds of that?
Whatever. He supposed he could go out for drinks once with the guy and make it clear he wasn't interested in furthering their friendship past ‘co-workers who greet each other in the corridor’.
Sighing in acceptance, he pulled out his phone and brought up his text thread with Kazuma. Ignoring the string of unanswered messages from him, he typed out something neutral but friendly:
If you're serious about catching up over drinks, I'm free next Saturday evening!
He immediately turned off his phone after sending the message, not at all prepared to see the response.
“Mr. Naruhodo.” He looked up to see van Zieks standing behind him. “Would you be so kind as to fix the order of this file for me?” he said, placing the pile of papers on his desk.
Despite the request being phrased like a question, it was clear he wasn't asking.
“Sure.”