Chapter Text
Ren lethargically opened his eyes to the bright summer sun peeking through his blinds. Morgana started to unfurl his curled up body, as he felt the bed shift around him. They both nodded at each other and began to get ready. Another busy day was ahead of them.
—
For most of the day Ren managed a team of three in Sojiro's new location, the Low Lamp Café, in Roppongi. Ren was the only one that could fluently speak English now that he had been learning for several years, and being in such an expat heavy area, this was vital. The wait team he was currently training were slowly learning the ropes but still could use some assistance from time to time.
Ren quickly slid over to one table across the room when he noticed one of the newest of the waitstaff looking panicked and struggling to get her words out, while a foreign businessman at the table in front of her looked ready to burst a blood vessel. Ren placed his hand softly on her shoulder and smiled down at her as she whipped her head around.
"Go ahead to the other table, Shizuki. I'll take care of this gentleman." He proceeded to step in front of her and gesture a polite greeting toward the table. She briskly walked away with great relief, to somewhere unseen in the restaurant.
"Hello sir, may I be of any assistance?" He spoke in clear, enunciated English. The businessman grunted. "Finally, someone who speaks normally…"
Ren could feel his jaw clench as the words unabashedly poured out from the man. He continued to smile gently despite the tension in his face. No matter how many lessons in hospitality he sat through, nothing could prevent the awkwardness of such interactions.
"Yes, it can indeed be difficult with cultural differences, sir." Ren counted backwards from ten silently and tilted his head down towards a small clipboard, bringing out a pen from his pocket. He clicked it with gusto and returned his gaze to the man. "What can we get started for you?"
The man looked caught off guard at the confidence that Ren conveyed despite being chided. "Just the curry special is fine…," he muttered at a hushed volume.
"Excellent!" Ren replied joyfully, with a sharpness to his tone. As he turned around, the bell hanging above the door chimed with a tinny jingle, to a young man quietly walking into the establishment. His eyes were stoic and firmly looking ahead. Ren lit up upon seeing him, switching back to his native tongue. "Goro-chan! How did it go?" Goro responded with a nonchalant shrug and gave him a wry smile. "And how the hell would I know? It was just a consult anyway… It's nothing to get excited about."
Ren smiled brightly at him, chuckling at the humble response Goro gave. "Something is better than nothing, wouldn't you say?"
"Ever the cloying optimist, wouldn't you say?" He grimaced at Ren's beaming face, a mocking tone slithering from his sneering lips. "Anyway, yes there may be…" Ren nodded expectantly to Goro's words. ".. but only possibly…" Ren nodded his head even more vigorously. "...The chance that I have my first client…"
"YEEEEEEEES!!" Ren ran up and tightly hugged Goro, to which Goro tensed up his upper body and squirmed. The businessman locked eyes with him, and Goro darted his gaze away, his grimace creasing even deeper. "How about… we do this later instead?.. Hm?!" He curtly gripped Ren's arms, and removed them from his shoulders in a single pull. He pried Ren off of him firmly and patted his back as he walked to the otherside of the cafe. Ren sheepishly covered his mouth, snickering as he walked away, returning to the kitchen to prepare a meal for his patiently waiting customer.
—
Ren said his goodbyes to the rest of the staff and locked up the building for the night. He walked to the back, past the kitchen. Ren pondered how its size could probably hold all of LeBlanc inside of it alone. He basked in how he felt so accomplished after all he and the others had overcome together, up to now. The efforts that his chosen family had been making were unprecedented, and the idea of setting up Sojiro for a comfortable retirement filled him with motivation. He climbed upstairs and walked down the hallway, towards a single soft light cutting through the darkness, cast from an open door.
He walked towards the bed, which Goro was fast asleep on, snoring contentedly. Ren slowly laid down next to him, placing one arm on his partner's back and the other resting behind his own head. Goro jerked awake and groggily snorted, sitting upright. "I wasn't snoring!", he exclaimed, irritatedly. Ren just nodded lazily and pulled Goro's head into his chest, caressing his hair tenderly. "Oh of course. Never you." He smiled down at him, an exhausted sigh expelled from his lips. Goro relented and relaxed his head and shoulders against Ren, wrapping his free arm around his torso.
"I'm glad we can drop the pretense now that it's just us." Ren tilted his head back, closing his eyes and continued to gently run his fingers over Goro's now short hair. It almost clashed with his own, still very unkempt but charmingly frizzy locks. It was almost touching his shoulders now. Had he not been Sojiro's de facto son, he probably wouldn't have been able to work a job in a place like Minato with such a mop for hair.
Goro abruptly grasped his hand, stopping him from continuing his little caresses. "You know, you really don't have to do this right?"
"What do you mean?..." This time Ren looked genuinely puzzled. He wasn't being coy as usual.
"This…" He paused, taking in a sharp breath. "The whole over-rewarding my 'good behavior' routine. It's… what I should be doing." He firmly closed his eyes, sitting in silence for a moment, then carried on. "I should be carrying my weight. You do not need to be overdoing it for something that should have just been the case from the start."
"It's not like that." Ren took back his hand from Goro and placed it on his cheek. "And I think torturing yourself isn't going to help either."
Goro closed his eyes as he sighed, relaxing and leaning into the hand holding his face. "I just don't know how you even put up with me."
"Hey, me neither!" Ren chuckled as Goro playfully socked a fist at his shoulder in response.
"Would it kill you to not make everything a damn joke?"
"I mean.. I am Joker, am I not?" An enormous grin spread across his face. "You walked into that one."
Goro rolled his eyes at the pitiful excuse for comedy his boyfriend showcased. "Those days are long gone, imbecile…" He closed his eyes as he lamented Sumi leaving him alone to deal with this man's antics for the night.
—-
Morgana was simply exhausted. He walked all day from Roppongi to the airport in Tokyo since the morning. In between sneaking onto public transit, he would spend his time avoiding random children attempting to catch him as well as adults shooing him away. All this racket despite minding his own business. It was stressful enough just being surrounded by things towering over or racing past him. It's an even bigger world when you hardly stand even a foot tall. But today he was on a mission to bring Sumire back home safe and sound in the boys' stead. And so he strutted through the streets with purpose and pride.
—
Sumire took a deep breath as the gymnasium lights cast their fluorescent glow on her. She ran towards the pommel horse ahead of her and gracefully flew into the air, casting her legs above her, and grabbing the handles. She stood up straight as a pin by the strength of her hands, then twisted her whole body around, while supporting herself with just one hand, gesturing elegantly with the other. She followed this by hopping onto the other hand, propelling herself backwards and sticking the landing back to the ground.
The crowd surrounding the middle of the gym applauded and cheered as an announcer described Sumire's routine with a blurb of her sportsmanship history. Currently, she was in a competition in mainland China finishing off the season abroad. She stared out into the crowd smiling confidently, as she held her form until it was appropriate to step away for the next contestant.
–
As Sumi sat waiting for a cab outside of the baggage claim exit of Haneda Airport, Morgana hopped up next to her, chiming a greeting. "Welcome back Sumi! How did things go?" Sumi's tired face immediately lit up with an ecstatic grin.
"My goodness, you came to greet me?! How sweet of you!" She scratched the underside of his face as a returned greeting.
"The guys feel bad about not meeting you when you made it home, so we all agreed I should come and find you. It's no worries!"
"Oh, you guys don't have to feel bad. This was a really late flight. I'd be surprised if they were even awake by the time I got back in town." She stroked her hand down his soft little head and cheerfully giggled. "We'll just have to catch up over dinner together."
A car horn honked in their direction, breaking Sumire away from the conversation.
"Oh that looks like my cab; let's go Mona." She opened her gym bag and slightly squatted down towards the bench to let him comfortably find a place to curl up.
They embarked towards her home, while debating ideas for tomorrow's dinner plans. Morgana resolutely argued for sushi, unsurprisingly.
—-
The trio, plus one hidden feline, gathered around a table in a low key eatery located in Shibuya. The excitement of being reunited settled with the flow of alcohol warming their hearts and softening their tones.
"He did WHAT?" Sumi giggled.
"Yeah, Morgana totally caught him in the act too!"
Morgana grinned to himself out of sight as Goro frowned defiantly.
"Ooooh you big softy!" Sumi cooed at Goro while Ren nudged him lightly. Goro rolled his eyes looking away.
"Look sometimes, it gets lonely when you both are really busy and Morgana and I have been getting along more. I just feel more comfortable and he's around the most to see it."
"There's no shame in having little comforts. I still sleep with stuffed animals or have foods I liked when I was a kid!" Sumi cradled her face between her hands, smiling affectionately at Goro.
"These kinds of things are good, you need to know how to self soothe anyway." Ren gave him comforting, soft smile. "Besides, I think crocheting is a great way to focus on something productive. The blanket looks great, especially for a first attempt." He patted Goro's back as the embarrassed young man fiddled with an appetizer in front of him.
"I'll keep at it then." He let out a cautious smile and took a drink while watching the ones he loved carry on and laugh through the night.
—