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Even before they had started dating, Kaoru always managed to surprise Kojiro.
“Welcome to Sia la luce, what can I get started for yo-” Kojiro had begun, not quite finishing his sentence when he looked up at the customers and was met with the faces of four men, one of whom’s gold eyes he was very familiar with.
It wasn’t that uncommon for Kaoru to frequent his restaurant, though he was usually alone, or if he did bring a business partner in, it was usually Watanabe, a man he worked with often. It was much more out of the ordinary for him to bring a group of people without informing Kojiro first, mostly so that the chef would be a little more prepared. This wasn’t to say he didn’t serve high-end clientele on the daily, he just didn’t have to pretend to not know his own boyfriend with those patrons.
So ya, Kaoru was good at surprising him. Just not always in the best of ways.
“Hello. We’ll have a plate of bruschetta for the table, and four glasses of whatever your house red is.” The calligrapher spoke in his level, business voice, not giving away any inkling that he knew the chef.
“Of course, sir. I’ll have that right out,” Kojiro said, raising an unimpressed eyebrow at his boyfriend before turning to head back into the kitchen.
“Couldn’t have given me even a little heads-up, huh Kaoru?” He muttered to himself under his breath, gathering the ingredients he’d need for the bread dish.
While the appetizer was baking, Kojiro pulled out four stemmed wine glasses and grabbed a bottle of Merlot, making his way back to the table. They were now conversing amongst themselves, two of the men he didn’t recognize sharing a laugh.
He placed the wine glasses down, before reaching into his apron and pulling out the wine opener. As he uncorked the bottle, he couldn’t help but listen in on the conversation.
“- very pleased you accepted the job, Sakurayashiki-san,” the man across from Kaoru was saying.
“I was honored to be offered it, considering how complex the lettering for the piece is. I am looking forward to the challenge,” Kaoru responded.
“Oh come on now, you can drop the humble act. You’re the best calligrapher in Okinawa, if not in the entirety of Southern Japan,” a shorter, bald man from Kaoru’s right praised.
“I’m flattered Yamada-san,” Kaoru said, but his eyes were locked with Kojiro’s own as the chef finished pouring the last glass. The corner of the calligrapher’s mouth ticked up, and Kojiro rolled his eyes at the arrogant smirk Kaoru was sending his way.
Humble my ass, Kojiro thought to himself as he placed the glasses of wine in front of the men.
“Your appetizers will be right out. In the meantime, what can I get you to eat?” Kojiro asked after setting the bottle down, plastering on his signature people-pleasing smile.
As the men ordered their food, Kojiro mentally took note of their order, avidly trying to ignore his boyfriend’s eyes on him.
“That’ll be all for now,” the bald man - Yamada - stated, handing the menu’s that had been on the table to Kojiro.
The chef bowed slightly. “I’ll have that right out,” he replied, turning to head back towards the kitchen, not missing the look Kaoru gave him as he did.
Kojiro pushed past the curtain that separated the main restaurant from the kitchen. He went to begin preparing the dishes, and as he cooked, he couldn’t help get a little lost in thought about his boyfriend and the double - well, now more like triple - lives they led. Between their real lives, S, and their on the down-low relationship, Kojiro couldn’t help but feel a little like he was having to switch between characters sometimes. Not that he really minded it, he guessed, but he wouldn’t mind it a little more if he could be more open about his and Kaoru’s relationship.
After the food finished, the chef grabbed a tray and placed the orders on it. He hiked the tray up to shoulder-height and made his way out to the table once more.
“It is unfortunate that one of our recent contracts had to be terminated. I quite liked the girl,” the man sitting across from Kaoru mused, taking a drink of wine.
“Until we discovered she ran with the wrong crowd,” Yamada-san said.
“Can’t have a girl who’s involved with a woman’s rights group representing the company, now can we?” The man next to Kaoru sighed before also taking a drink from his glass.
Kojiro clenched his jaw at the sexist comment as he set down their respective orders, not missing the frown that fell onto the calligraphers face.
As he was mentally reminding himself to stay out of it, one of the plates he had been setting down slipped from his hands, spilling the pasta carbonara all over the table.
The three business men pushed back slightly from the table, all letting out varying noises of surprise. Kaoru simply lifted his wine glass out of the way and sent an almost concerned look the chef’s way.
“Oi, watch what you’re doing!” Yamada-san exclaimed.
Kojiro flushed slightly in embarrassment, immediately bowing his head in apology before moving to start cleaning up the mess.
“I am incredibly sorry gentlemen, let me go grab some more napkins and make you another plate,” he said, reaching for some extra napkins he had at the waiter’s booth that sat fairly close to the table.
“What an idiot,” Kojiro overheard one of the men comment.
“At least he’s not terrible to look at,” the man next to the pink-haired calligrapher commented.
“Maybe if he focused more on his job than his appearance, he wouldn’t be so incompetent,” the man across from Kaoru snickered.
“It’s unfortunate that he is all brawn and no brains. Might I suggest removing your head from your ass before serving us?” the Yamada-san said, clearly both annoyed and aiming to be an asshole as Kojiro found himself back at the table.
“He is gorgeous isn’t he?” Kaoru suddenly chimed in, all eyes turning to look at the calligrapher. “I’m incredibly lucky to have him as my own personal chef.”
The business men’s eyes widened, all three of them falling silent.
“You know this man, Sakurayashiki-san?” the bald man asked.
“Well I would hope so, considering he’s my boyfriend.”
Kojiro froze, his eyes locked with his partner’s, who seemed wholly unbothered by the fact that he had just outed them both. Not that Kojiro cared; it was the men in front of him he knew would.
“Boyfriend?” the man next to Kojiro asked.
“What are you saying, Sakurayashiki?” Yamada-san asked, his tone implying that there was a correct answer to his question. It didn’t go unnoticed by Kojiro that the honorific was dropped off of Kaoru’s name almost immediately.
“I’m saying exactly what you think I’m saying. This is Nanjo Kojiro, my boyfriend.” Kaoru gestured at the chef, starting to look thoroughly unimpressed with his probably now ex-partners.
“We were unaware you were… in a relationship, Sakurayashiki,” the man across from him said hesitantly.
“Would that have changed your offering of the job?” Kaoru stared directly into his eyes, as if daring the other man to challenge him.
“Our image is incredibly important to us, Sakurayashiki. We wouldn’t want to tarnish it with a relationship between-”
“I highly suggest you do not finish that sentence, Yamada-san,” Kaoru stated firmly, his gold eyes glinting dangerously at him. “Now if you’ll excuse me gentleman, I need to have a private word with my boyfriend. If you could kindly show yourselves the door.”
The angry scraping of chair legs against the floor was the only sound in the restaurant as the calligrapher stood, placing his arms in his kimono and making his way towards the bar area. He leveled Kojiro with his signature glare as he passed.
Kojiro turned around to find all three men staring at him, looking about as one would expect after being verbally slapped in the face.
The chef found his voice first, raising an eyebrow at the three in front of him.
“Well, you heard the man. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out,” Kojiro said, pursing his lips as he put his tray under his arm and turned to follow Kaoru to the bar.
When Kojiro finally made it to the bar, he looked at Kaoru expectantly, waiting for him to say something. The pink-haired man stayed silent; though, sitting and staring straight at the wall ahead of him.
As soon as the sound of the bell on the door rang to signal the departure of the men, Kaoru’s fan shot out and smacked the chef in the arm.
“Ow, what the fuck Kaoru?” Kojiro hissed, glaring at the pink-haired man. “What on Earth were you thinking, pulling a stunt like that? You just lost your business partners!”
“I have no need for employers who are homophobic assholes.” Kaoru said very matter-of-factly.
“But you didn’t have to do that for me, I can handle myself-”
“God you’re insufferable. For once could you use that gorilla brain of yours to maybe consider the fact that I did it because I love you?” Kaoru snapped, turning those murderous eyes of his onto Kojiro.
Kojiro just blinked at his boyfriend, clearly not having expected the confession.
“Let me know once your system has processed that informa-”
“You love me?” Kojiro finally spluttered, wide-eyed as he looked down at the calligrapher.
Kaoru just rolled his eyes and sighed loudly. “Of course I do you buffoon. I thought you would have figured that out by now, considering I accepted your proposal to be your boyfr- mmph!”
His sentence was cut off by Kojiro suddenly forcefully pressing his lips to Kaoru’s. The pink-haired man looked indignant for a moment, before rolling his eyes and sighing into the kiss.
Kojiro’s hand came up to squeeze Kaoru’s arm as he pulled away, still inches from the calligraphers face.
“I love you too,” Kojiro whispered, smiling.
Kaoru laughed, raising an eyebrow. “Well I would hope so. I just lost one of my biggest clients of the year thanks to you.” The fan made a sudden reappearance, smacking Kojiro’s hand still resting on Kaoru’s arm. “And that’s for interrupting me.”
Kojiro yelped and frowned, but squeezed Kaoru’s arm before he pulled away. “Oh, and I’m the insufferable one.”
Kaoru narrowed his eyes at his boyfriend. “Watch it, gorilla.”
Kojiro laughed, reaching out to ruffle his boyfriends hair and getting another fan smack for it.
“You still didn’t need to do that, four-eyes,” Kojiro sighed, running a hand through his hair.
Kaoru waved the comment off, turning in his seat. “They were pricks. Even if I hadn’t done it for you, I would’ve refused to work for them anyway.” Kojiro placed the fan back in his kimono. “Besides, we have Reki and Langa to think of. If this had been about the two of them, one of those men wouldn’t have any front teeth anymore and you would have bloody knuckles.”
Kojiro snorted, but didn’t deny it.
“And those two are like five-years-old, we need to set a good example,” Kaoru added.
“You’re talking about them like they’re our children.” Kojiro snorted.
“I feel like they are our children,” Kaoru said, rubbing his temples. “They’re going to be the reason my hair goes grey early.”
Kojiro laughed again, leaning to wrap an arm around the calligrapher’s shoulders, placing a kiss on his head. “You love them though.”
Kaoru hummed in agreement. “I do.” He twisted his head up to look at his boyfriend. “But don’t you dare ever tell them I said that.”
“Your secrets safe with me babe,” Kojiro said, leaning down to place a kiss on the tip of the calligrapher’s nose.
They stayed there in silence for a moment with Kojiro leaning his head on Kaoru’s, simply enjoying each other’s company. The calligrapher was the one to burst the bubble, sighing and moving to stand from his stool.
“I have to get back to the office to explain exactly why I’ve lost my client to Nakaya-san.” The pink-haired man leaned foward to press a kiss to Kojiro’s cheek. “I’ll see you later tonight?”
The chef leaned into the contact and hummed in agreement. Kaoru smiled slightly before starting to make his way to the door.
“Oh, and Kojiro, if you wanted to make it up to me for losing my client, I wouldn’t be opposed to you showing me just how much you love me tonight,” Kaoru spoke suggestively.
Kojiro’s eyes shot wide, his brain malfunctioning at the sudden insinuation.
“Food for thought,” Kaoru said, throwing a wicked grin over his shoulder as he laid his hand on the door handle.
Kojiro sputtered for a second, brain scrambling to try to catch up with what had just happened, when it finally hit him.
“Did you just- did you just make a dad joke?!” The chef yelled after him. He heard Kaoru laugh as he left, leaving Kojiro standing there looking like a fish out of water before he finally felt a grin stretch across his face.
Kaoru truly never failed to surprise him. And he wouldn’t have it any other way.