Work Text:
Battler pressed his cheek against the table. It was cold. Very good. Maybe it would help with his growing headache.
“...Seriously, Beato…” he muttered, “Why the hell did you have to post that thing?”
The culprit of his headache was currently sitting across from him, sipping on the overpriced coffee that she’d made him pay for, even though her family was even wealthier than his. It was to the point where if she’d really wanted to, she could make his family bow and scrape their knees for her while tearfully begging for her not to ruin them, and where she could practically own Battler if she wanted to.
Being the long-lost heir to the Italian mafia family that the Ushiromiya family was indebted to did that. Though the fact that she was also his childhood friend made it so that if she’d actually wanted to own him, well… Battler wouldn’t have minded that much… (Not that he could ever tell her that.)
She cackled. “C’mooon, you read it, you know it was good~”
“...That’s one way to put it,” he huffed before blowing on his hot chocolate. It was still too hot for him to drink.
She leaned forward and poked his cheek. “It’s just fine.”
“You have all that money, and you make me pay for your coffee and post amateur writing all the time,” he muttered. “I dunno why you’re even going to college with me, Beato.”
She pouted, as if she’d been insulted. He’d just been telling the truth. “I wonder why.” She glanced away. “If you weren’t such an idiot, maybe you’d know.”
He shrugged. “I think I’d need a thousand years to figure it out. Is it ‘cause I came over to your house to play all the time?”
Beato had been raised by Kumasawa and Genji, two old friends of the Battler’s grandfather. So of course Beato had known the Ushiromiya family well while growing up, even if the adults in the family had strongly encouraged their children not to play with her. Battler and Jessica had laughed in their faces, of course. The joke was on the adults when Beato had discovered her heritage and the fact that Kumasawa and Genji had kept it from her and been raising her solely because of Kinzo’s unrequited love for her grandmother, with any love they held for her coming in second in comparison to their own goals.
…Beato wasn’t really on speaking terms with anyone but him and Jessica, nowadays, plus the live-in servants Shannon and Kanon that the main branch had once employed. They were a kind duo that had often played with Beato as a child, and she saw them as her own siblings. Once she’d had access to funds, she’d immediately scooped up their contracts, canceled them, and given both of them more than enough money for five lifetimes.
Jessica was going to college overseas, wanting to get as far away from family drama as possible, but Battler had his little sister to think of, so he was going to college in Japan. Beato had somehow decided to go to the same college, and as a result, the rest of the Ushiromiya family had officially-unofficially designated Battler to be their liaison with Beato, and to keep her from sending them all into massive debt because of “petty grudges” (their words, not his).
“I wonder,” Beato said quietly, and took a sip of her coffee. “It could be because you’ll read over all my works for me, and give me your honest opinion.”
“Yeah… You’re a good writer, when you write mystery,” he admitted begrudgingly. “But when it comes to your romance works…” He shuddered, grimacing. “Seriously, why’d you post that…” he whined. “I feel so bad for Clair, y’know? Her crush is so dense…”
Beato’s mystery novel drafts were shelved until she graduated college, as she wanted to wait to think about how to release them and ensure that they were as polished as possible, but her romance works…
She’d posted some one shots online before under a handle and received positive feedback, so she’d then decided to start an entire novel. Though, by this point, considering that it was over a hundred thousand words and the main couple hadn’t even held hands, let alone acknowledged each other’s feelings or kissed, he was willing to believe that it was going to be a very, very long undertaking that was more deserving of the term “novel series” than “web novel”.
“What’s wrong with it, anyway?” She scowled.
He crossed his arms. “I told you in the notes, if you keep it up like this, nobody’s gonna think that the main couple should even get together in the first place… Clair basically took him on a date and practically confessed that she loved him, and he didn’t get it at all…”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s a deconstruction of a typical romantic comedy wherein such scenes are normally played for laughs or else they are commonplace occurrences that merely serve to give the audience a taste of the couple before reverting everything back to normal immediately. In my work, they instead result in sorrow and are deepening the relationship between the couple in other ways, so I believe that the chapter is entirely fi-”
He slapped his hand over her mouth, trying not to scream. “...Okay, okay… I get it…”
She licked his hand, and he took it away, scowling and shaking it. “Beato,” he whined, “you can’t just lick my hand like that, it’s gross…”
She huffed. “I can if I want to. I can do anything I want to you…”
He sighed and then smiled softly. “Yeah… I guess that’s true.”
She smiled back - when she smiled like this, bright and cheerful, Battler couldn’t help but feel happy. When they were together like this, without anyone else, it was just him and someone he cared deeply for. Her cruelty was nothing more than cute teasing, and her happiness flowed freely, without anyone to curb it or restrain it. As though all the sorrow that they had experienced had disappeared.
He remembered his mother smiling, leaning down to look him in the eyes, her hand on his shoulder. ‘If you find something you like, don’t abandon it for anything else,’ she’d told him back then. He still thought about that, about how she had probably known before she died about his father’s affair with Kyrie. About how she’d trusted in him not to be the same, to be better.
So he’d followed her advice… and the thing he’d chosen to never abandon was Beato. So he didn’t regret that his father kept begging him to come back and live with him, or that his family was always scolding him for ‘leaving them’. It didn’t really matter if his aunts and uncles whispered together that he was the pet of a witch, that he was something she’d purchased with her golden magic, something that was no better than some overpriced handcrafted furniture that she always kept by her side.
Beato drained the last few drops of her coffee and then glanced at his hot chocolate, which was still perfectly intact. “...Are you going to drink that?”
“...Do you want it…?” he asked, already preparing to hand it over to her. “You drink so fast, you’ll make yourself sick,” he muttered.
“No, I just think you should drink…” she mumbled, her fingers fidgeting. “You always pay for both of us, so…”
“That’s ‘cause you make me pay for you, so why shouldn’t I pay for me, too?” he reasoned, shrugging. “Hell, I don’t really care about whatever money you’ve got going on, you know that.”
“Mm… I know.” She held her empty coffee in her hands, fingers tapping on the sides. “I know. I’m grateful for that… You’ve always been so kind to me, and never allowed anyone else to determine how you saw things or how you acted. I respect that.”
“I’ll continue to be that way.” He sipped his hot chocolate slowly, trying not to burn his tongue.
She giggled. “You’ve got whipped cream on your face~” She leaned forward, cleaning his cheek with her tongue. “Mm…”
“B-Beato…” he squeaked. His face felt hot, and he shifted a bit in his seat. “I’m, um… You can’t just…”
She tilted her head. “I think I can. You said I could do whatever I wanted to you, Battleeer.”
The few people in the cafe that were looking their way probably thought they were a couple… out on a date… At that thought, Battler’s face felt even hotter. This was so embarrassing, so shameful… and painfully normal for his time with Beato… But even so, he didn’t regret it… but even so, it was still…
“...I did… say you could do whatever you wanted…” Battler glanced away.
“Cute~” Beato giggled, taking out her phone to snap a photo of him before he could protest. “Think I should post it on Instagram~?”
“...Only if you let me post that photo of you sleeping on your textbook,” he replied, already taking his own phone out.
Since they lived together and spent much of their time together, they both had ample blackmail material on the other. It was only by virtue of a tenuous mutual truce that they kept each other’s power in check.
“Fine,” she huffed, setting her phone down on the table. “It wasn’t my fault that it was so boring. And they make you pay so much for them, and then barely reference them during class.”
He rolled his eyes. “I mean, our physics professor does,” he pointed out. “You’re just always too busy typing up a chapter to notice.”
“Because he’s boring,” she whined. “And he reminds me of Kinzo’s personal doctor, don’t you remember him?”
He frowned, trying to remember. “Oh, right, him… Hm, nah.” He made a dismissive gesture with his hand. “Our professor doesn’t have the creepy vibes, y’know?”
“That’s true,” she chirped, her hands on her knees, just below her thigh-length skirt. “You should skip class with me more often…”
“Except the ones that involve literature?” he said knowingly, and they both exchanged knowing grins, from one bookworm to another.
“Yeah. I’ll even pay for our meals… We could skip a Monday and Friday, and go to Italy. You still haven’t met my grandmother, I need to introduce you.” A small smile played on her face, her eyes sparkling.
Battler chuckled, and replied after taking a big sip of his drink, “I guess. Though, she won’t be like, ‘this Ushiromiya punk running around with my precious grand-daughter is no good for her’, right?”
“We’ll see… If she thinks you don’t deserve me, I’m sure she’ll put you in your place or whip you into shape.” She rose her head up high, as if snubbing him.
“Aw, you make it sound like she’s deciding if I’m good enough to date you or not,” he complained.
He and Beato were just childhood friends who’d been through far too many things together to ever be apart. They were rivals and friends, but… Something like lovers was… He would admit that he’d had a crush on her when they were little, and had probably even promised to marry her once or twice, but that was just when he was a kid. He’d grown out of that, and of silly daydreams of being able to marry someone like Beato. She was too beautiful and precious for someone like him to ever obtain.
“I wonder.” She pressed a finger to her lips, a secretive smile on her face. “Are you good enough to date me, Ushiromiya Battler?”
“Nope,” he replied immediately, his smile disappearing, and he continued drinking his hot chocolate. It was warm and sweet, and drinking it helped to keep him from blurting out anything stupid. “...Besides, I’m the grandson of the weirdo that practically kidnapped you, right? So… I dunno why you even still want me around, sometimes,” he confessed, mumbling into his cup.
Beato sighed. “...You’re really a foolish person…” She reached out with one hand to pat his head. Her fingers in his hair were soothing, and he relaxed into the touch without thinking. “I can’t be without my precious beta reader, now can I?”
“Mm…” he agreed, his eyes closing. “You really do treat me like a pet sometimes…”
“Maybe you’ll have to be in a kennel on the plane,” she whispered. “Or maybe I’ll get a leash and collar when I take you onboard, so that you have to stay by my side.”
“I wouldn’t leave,” he murmured. “I promised, right…?”
“You did. I’m just a bit greedy… and want a bit more than that…” Her hand withdrew.
He didn’t understand what it was that she wished for. But surely, since it was Beato, she would be able to acquire it. And if she could not, he would grant it to her himself. Because she was the precious princess that he had devoted his life to, even if he would never say so aloud. Even if it was just like this, with him eating out of her hand and following her around as if he was nothing more than an overly obedient dog, then he would not protest nor reject it.
Beato was the person who granted Battler happiness, the beloved person that he would not abandon.
He wouldn’t make the mistakes of the past.