Chapter Text
Kaoru was a very simple man.
He had a simple job for the most part and a simple lifestyle. Nothing was out of the ordinary and everything was great. That was until he stepped into the scene.
He always saw him at exactly 3:15 everyday outside the window. He stood out there on the concrete waiting for his kid to come out of the doors. Kaoru saw him walk home and walk to the school. He usually dressed comfortably, wearing flannel shirts and some sweatpants or baggy jeans. He wore a lot of green, it always went along well with his hair, which was also the color green.
His hair type was curly and coiled, it looked soft and clean. It shined when the light was on it and had a slight bounce as he walked and shifted. Kaoru loved it. He put in different styles as well, high and low buns, high up and half down, some styles Kaoru hadn’t even seen or heard of before. He loved how unique he was, he didn’t look like most people he saw. His bright, bronze complexion that shines like gold whenever the sun touched it was beautiful. He was in love with him.
Kaoru always admired him from the classroom window at the end of the day, getting lost in his looks. He was staring down at his phone, scrolling through, most likely trying to make time go by faster. Kaoru sometimes tuned out the rowdy, ready-to-go-home kindergarteners he took care of for hours on end while he was staring at him. He never put them aside just to stare though, he was a teacher and despite popular belief, a huge softie when it came to kids.
“Sensei, what time do we get out?” One of the kids asked. Kaoru snapped out of his thoughts and realized it was Kenji who was talking to him. He knelt down and began speaking to him.
“We get out at 03:20, Kenji. You know this.” He smiled at him. Kenji rubbed his eyes and yawned before nodding his head and walking away. He stared at him as he went to sit back down in his seat. Kaoru sighed and looked back at the window and then down at his desk. He picked up his phone and started to scroll through the tons of unread emails he had yet to reply to.
The school bell rang after about a minute of scrolling. Kaoru shed a smile and looked up at the kids. He began saying his goodbyes to students and helping them get all their stuff together. He helped them organize their papers and school supplies. They were doing arts and crafts, so the room was a mess and glue was all over the tables. It was going to be a pain to clean.
The last student that left the classroom was Naomi. She had spent extra time helping clean by grabbing wet wipes from the top counter. Kaoru was impressed with not only how she was able to reach them at such a small height but also, how good she was at cleaning the mess up. Once she got her backpack over both of her shoulders and waved goodbye to her teacher she walked out. Kaoru waved back at her and began organizing his desk to head home.
Kaoru watched her walk out the room and as she did, her arts and crafts project fell out of the back pocket from her backpack. Kaoru walked over to pick it up and bring it to her, but by the time he made it to the hallway, Naomi was already outside. She was a total speed demon, probably why she was liked most in P.E.
Kaoru ran outside of the building to outside where Naomi was walking and she was walking up to the man Kaoru was staring at before. Kaoru would've stopped in his tracks had it not been for his brain primarily focused on getting the project back to Naomi.
"Naomi!" Kaoru yelled out to her. She turned around and Kaoru held up her project. Her mouth gaped and she ran over to him to grab the paper. The man started to walk over as well, chuckling a little.
"You don't want to forget this, do you?" He rhetorically asked, starting to chuckle as well. Kaoru handed the paper to her.
She started to laugh and held it up to show her Dad. Kojiro gasped at the portrait and began to praise her drawing skills. Naomi giggled.
"Hey, Nao, what do we say to Mr. Sakurayashiki for being the paper back?" He asked her.
"Thank you, Mr. Sakurayashiki." She smiled. She began walking back over to her Dad. Her Dad lifted her up and held her in his arms, tickling her a little bit.
"Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. She had been talking the entire week about this project, it would crush her if she forgot it here." He emphasized to him, Kaoru was taken aback.
He couldn't believe he was actually talking to the man he had been admiring. It was a shock to him. He hadn’t even initiated the conversation, he just started talking to him. He didn't even know his name yet. All he knew is that his last name was Nanjo. He could actually look at his last name in the parent files but that would make him seem like a total creep, especially if he just started using his name out of the blue.
"No problem, Mr. Nanjo. The least I could do for her. Your child is an angel, I couldn't ask for a better student." Kaoru complimented. He meant every single word too.
Naomi was the sweetest kid. Always nice to people, tried to keep the peace, didn't talk much during class time, helped other students, as well as was super sweet to Kaoru. She always said good morning and brought him cakey treats on some days. Kaoru appreciated her a ton, she was extremely helpful and a relief from some of the students he had to take care of.
She was a literal angel. She always looked put together and wore some of the cutest outfits Kaoru had ever seen too. She wore small wedge heels and dresses to tracksuits and a nice pair of sneakers. She always looked amazing and so cute. Whatever Nanjo was doing, he was doing amazing at it.
"Well, I'm always glad to hear that. And please, call me Kojiro." Kojiro chuckled, looking at his daughter who was smiling as well. Kaoru could barely focus on that due to the name he had just learned about.
Kojiro. His name was Kojiro.
Kaoru wanted to say it a million times over again. His name matched him so much, from his strength to his cheerfulness. It was perfect, he was perfect.
“Well, you should be very proud, Kojiro.” Kaoru stammered, still shook over finding out a name.
“I am! I’m so proud of you, Nao!” Kojiro said, bouncing her and bringing her into a tight hug. Naomi cutely giggled. They both laughed together for a moment before looking back at Kaoru.
"Well, Thank you so much, Mr. Sakuray–"
"Kaoru." He interrupted.
"Pardon?" Kojiro responded back. Kaoru slightly shied away before clearing his throat and pushing up his glasses.
"I'm sorry, you can call me, Kaoru. I know my name is a mouth full, so just call me Kaoru." He nervously laughed. He questioned why he was putting himself out here like this, especially to some man whose name he had just learned 5 minutes ago.
"Well, Kaoru, Thank you so much for bringing the art project back, again, I really appreciate it. I will see you soon or at conferences, whatever comes first." He smiled.
"You're welcome. Have a good day, Sir. You too, Naomi." He smiled back. Naomi waved and Kojiro murmured something before walking away. It almost hurt to see them go.
Kojiro was just as sweet as his daughter. He saw where she got her personality from.
Kaoru watched them walk away before going back inside of the building. Once he made it to his classroom, he began to pack up his stuff, neatly putting it in his bag. He picked up the rest of the scraps that were left on the floor and threw them in the trash can. Once he was finished cleaning up, he grabbed his things and walked out the door.
Kaoru was walking down the silent hallway until he felt a hand on his shoulder turn him around. He scared him a bit until he saw the friendly face of Kiriko, one of his coworkers. She had taught the older students, 9th through 12th grade. They still always met after school hours to hangout at some spot Kiriko found. Kaoru usually looked forward to going out except on the days he was beat and exhausted.
Kiriko started to ramble off on the place she had found. It was this place called 'Sia La Luce'. It was more of an underground restaurant according to her. They served Italian food, which sparked Kaoru's interest due to his love for Carbonara. They had a wide variety of foods you could choose from, same with desserts, which again, made Kaoru excited.
"I also heard the head chef there is extremely attractive. Like drop dead gorgeous." She added on. Kaoru gave her a suggestive look with an eyebrow raise.
"Kiko, please don't try to get with the head chef of this restaurant." He chuckled nervously, Kaoru was very serious though.
Kiriko had a tendency to be flirtatious, especially after a bit of drinking. It was likely that she would flirt with him if he was as attractive as she was saying he was.
They made it to the parking lot and both got in their cars. Kiriko gave him the directions to the place she had mentioned earlier. She had texted him while he was driving saying she invited some of the other coworkers. Kaoru was fine with that, although he wished he was told that ahead of time, it didn't bother him.
After driving for about 20 minutes, the GPS said take another left turn before he would reach his destination. He did so, and around the corner, there was a sign that read the restaurant title 'Sia La Luce' in cursive. It looked way fancier that Kaoru was imagining, he wished he could have made a quick stop home and dressed up a bit better and fixed his hair which was thrown up in a messy bun.
Kaoru parked and got out of his car. He began walking up to the entrance. He saw Kiriko, Hiromi, and Oka talking to each other in one of the windows. Kaoru made his way inside and sat down next to them.
"It's about time you got here." Kiriko said to him as he placed his stuff to the side of him to sit down.
"Sorry, I got lost. You could've warned me there were several left turns and then an unexpected right every 15 seconds." Kaoru sassed back at her.
"Maybe if you drove with me, you wouldn't get lost." She sing-songed, grabbing her cup to take a sip of what had to be spiked lemonade.
"Absolutely not. Not after that shit you pulled the last time you got pulled over."
"Not my fault I didn't wanna get a ticket!" She exclaimed back to him.
"And you still got one anyway, along with second hand embarrassment." He said right back at her, picking up the menu to see what he would get.
Kiriko scoffed and rolled her eyes before loudly saying 'Anyway..' and getting back to talking with Hiromi and Oka. Kaoru kept his eyes on the menu. They served many different traditional Italian dishes, such as Baccalà alla Vicentina, Risotto alla Milanese, and many different types of Carbonara. Kaoru wanted to try them all, they looked so good. He knew what he was going to get, but he would come back to get the rest just because of the pictures alone.
He noticed a chef coming up to get their orders from the corner of his eyes. He didn't look up right away at them because of how focused he was on the delicious looking food presented in front of him.
“The head chef is coming~” Kiriko sing-songed.
“Against my better judgment.” Kaoru sing-songed back to her.
"Are you guys ready to order?" A low, soft sounding voice asked the table. Kiriko hummed a yes and went to pick up her menu as well, her nails making a clack sound against the table.
Kiriko started to order the meal and appetizers she wanted, then went to Hiromi and then Oka. Kaoru was last to order as he was still lost in the food he was looking at. Kiriko tapped him on the shoulder, telling him to order. He chuckled embarrassingly before looking back down and beginning to speak.
"Sorry, I'll have the–" He paused. The reason Kaoru paused is because of what he saw when he looked up from his menu.
As he looked up from the muscular body and broad shoulders, he recognized him immediately. From his rough hands and to his bronze colored skin, as well as that same warming smile that felt like sunshine whenever you laid eyes on it. The same man he had seen everyday waiting for his daughter at the school, the man he admired from afar since he first noticed him.
Kaoru saw Kojiro