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It starts with some murmurs near the coffee machine.
Kurosawa’s used to overhearing conversations, especially if they were about him. His reaction used to be a mix of flattery and embarrassment, but for a long while those were replaced by bitterness until Adachi entered his life.
Now, any overheard talks about him elicited a reaction of pity, since he now had someone concrete as a reason for his eventual rejections.
But Kurosawa’s reaction this time is that of intrigue, as the conversations he was overhearing weren’t about him.
“Adachi-san’s a lot happier nowadays,” Kurosawa heard someone say as he was fixing his coffee. It was one of the women in his sales team who talked about him a lot, so hearing his boyfriend’s name from her was an interesting change of pace.
“I know, right?” he heard another woman respond, who he was pretty sure is in the sales support team with Adachi. “When I asked him to proofread one of my documents, he wasn’t a nervous wreck at all. He’s a lot more confident now.”
Kurosawa had to hold back a cheer. He’s very much aware of how much Adachi has come out of his shell following his stint in Toyokawa’s Nagasaki branch. Hearing other people recognize it made his heart swell in pride.
My angel deserves this so much, he said to himself. I’m so glad people are finally recognizing just how amazing and wonderful and lovely he is—
“He’s a lot cuter now too,” the first woman said, immediately erasing the smile on Kurosawa’s face.
“Ah, I was too embarrassed to say it!” the second woman replied. “But he really is! I never noticed it before since he never makes eye contact, but he has such lovely eyes.”
“And his smile is so charming,” the first woman added. “If his suits were tailored better and he made a bit more effort with how he styled his hair, he could really give Kurosawa-san a run for his money—”
Kurosawa had to force himself to go back to his desk. He didn’t know how much he could hold back from telling them that Adachi was off the market, thank you very much.
People are recognizing… how lovely he is… Kurosawa’s thoughts repeated, but it now added more dread to his face.
Oh no.
The murmurs become louder.
They also weren’t exclusive to the coffee machine anymore, as Kurosawa’s also been hearing them before his meetings, while he was queueing for the elevator, and even while he was having lunch with the man in question.
The contents of those murmurs had evolved, too. While many were still obsessing over his kind eyes and warm smile—two qualities Kurosawa had already clocked eight years ago, thank you very much—some started pointing out his boy-next-door charm (something Kurosawa also obsessed over), his cute laugh (something Kurosawa had to hear at least once a day), and even the way he makes them feel at ease whenever they talk to him (something Kurosawa was all too familiar with). Some had even gone to the point of defending his unkempt hair, saying that it added to his charm (which Kurosawa wholeheartedly agreed with).
Adachi, for some reason, hasn’t noticed any of it. Or if he had, he didn’t say anything about it. Kurosawa didn’t know which scenario he preferred, but he knew that he wasn’t going to bring it up himself.
What would he even say? Hey, I notice that everyone in the office’s been noticing how attractive you are and I don’t like it? Kurosawa had promised Adachi that he was working on his bouts of jealousy after that incident with Tsuge. This would seem like he wasn’t making any progress.
(If he was being honest with himself, this whole thing was probably erasing his progress.)
“Man, Adachi-san’s so popular nowadays!” Rokkaku told him while they were heading back to the office from a client meeting. “I was gonna ask him to give a final look for our report for this meeting, but he said he was too busy helping a bunch of other people!”
“You mean like Urabe-san?” Kurosawa ventured to say, hoping that Rokkaku would end his nightmare.
“Nope! He said he was helping…”
And Rokkaku proceeded to list a bunch of names of different women around the office and what they were asking from Adachi, making Kurosawa’s nightmare even worse.
“Ah, Kurosawa-san, are you okay?” Rokkaku said after he finished describing what must have been the fifth woman to ask for Adachi’s help. “You’re looking a bit pale…”
“I-I’m fine!” he said. “It’s unfortunate that Kiyoshi’s too busy nowadays. I can ask him to drop by your table sometime if you really need his help?”
“That would be great, thanks!” Rokkaku said. “I can’t blame all those co-workers, though. Adachi-san’s a great senpai! He’s so helpful and kind and meticulous and generous…”
Kurosawa had to hold back his groan.
“Can I join you, Kurosawa-kun?”
He was about to give one of his rehearsed excuses when he realized who was asking him. Kurosawa may not have been as close to Fujisaki as Adachi was, but he appreciated her company all the same. She was, after all, one of the few people who knew Kurosawa well enough that he didn’t have to hide behind a facade.
“Of course, Fujisaki-san,” Kurosawa said as he moved his stuff off the table to make space for her bento.
“Thank you,” she said as she took a seat. “You seemed lonely without Adachi-kun here,” she added in a much more teasing tone.
“He’s in a meeting with Urabe-san and his team,” Kurosawa replied with a laugh. “Unfortunately, it’s a working lunch.”
“Ah, yes, he mentioned yesterday that he was putting together a report for it,” Fujisaki recalled. “Or, rather, I heard him mention it to his teammates while they were following him.”
That made Kurosawa furrow his eyebrows—his natural reaction whenever he overhears someone talk about Adachi while he was alone—but he immediately went back to his neutral face when he realized he wasn’t eating alone anymore. When he saw Fujisaki put down her chopsticks and give her full attention to him, though, he knew he got caught.
“Ah, Kurosawa-kun, what’s wrong?” Fujisaki said. “Did I say something out of line?”
“No, not at all, Fujisaki-san,” Kurosawa replied with one of his practiced smiles. “It’s nothing at all.”
Kurosawa could feel Fujisaki staring him down, and he knew he was busted. He always thought that Fujisaki was among the smartest and most observant people he’s ever met—she figured out his feelings for Adachi much sooner than anyone else, even Adachi—so Kurosawa knew she was reading him like a book.
“Ah, I think I get it,” Fujisaki said after a few minutes. “Is Kurosawa-kun bothered by all the attention Adachi-kun’s been getting?”
“Huh?” Kurosawa said, hoping he sounded convincing enough. “No! I just, uhmm—”
Any excuse Kurosawa was about to blurt out was erased by Fujisaki’s knowing look. So he relented by giving her a nod.
“I can’t blame you. There were some of them who asked me if I was still interested in dating Adachi-kun,” Fujisaki said with a laugh. “Apparently, they can remember that time when he offered to be my pretend date for my mom.”
“I remember Kiyoshi telling me about that,” Kurosawa said with a smile. He was about to say more when he realized that he was actually jealous of Fujisaki after that incident, and he couldn’t help but feel guilty about it.
“Hm, you seemed jealous of me back then because of that, too,” Fujisaki said with a smile, and all Kurosawa could do was bow in apology. “Oh, no need for that, Kurosawa-kun. It’s all water under the bridge. And besides, you of all people should know that I have zero interest in Adachi-kun, at least romantically.”
It was during one of their twice-a-month dinners earlier in the year when Fujisaki decided to come out to them. Both he and Adachi told her how proud they were of her and promised that they would read up more on aromanticism and asexuality. Rokkaku, meanwhile, promised Fujisaki that if anyone ever bothered her about it, he would give them a piece of his mind.
“But enough about me,” Fujisaki said. “Do you want to talk about all those murmurs, Kurosawa-kun?”
He really did, but Kurosawa also didn’t know how to talk about it. When he really thought about it, it was, at its core, a pretty stupid issue. Adachi had already promised him forever, after all—why was he jealous of some people who were only interested in Adachi now?
At the same time, he couldn’t deny that it bothered him. Who were these people who were only realizing now how much of a catch Adachi is? None of them knew how hard Adachi worked to overcome his insecurities and become the more confident and outspoken self that he was today.
“I don’t know what else to say other than I don’t like it.” Kurosawa finally settled on saying. “I know I’m not supposed to feel threatened because I’m confident in our relationship and how we’ve built it, and deep down I know that Adachi wouldn’t leave me for any of them, but I can’t help but feel jealous of it all.”
“Have you talked to Adachi-kun about it?” Fujisaki asked.
“Like I said, I don’t know what to say,” Kurosawa replied. “It’s such a silly problem, right? I feel like if I bring it up to him, it’ll just make it a bigger issue than it actually is.”
“Hm, you might be right about that,” Fujisaki began. “But I think he could give you some good advice.”
“How so?”
“Well, if there’s anyone who knows about dealing with their partner being admired by a lot of people, it’s Adachi-kun, right?”
The record scratch in Kurosawa’s mind was so loud that it seemed like even Fujisaki heard it.
It was almost comical now that it was said out loud. How did Kurosawa not realize it before? He’d been so focused on how he felt about it that he didn’t realize that this was what Adachi was—and to some extent, is—dealing with for so long. And when Adachi did overhear other people talk about Kurosawa, all he did was laugh it off and say that his boyfriend deserved all that admiration.
“I’m a selfish fool,” he said out loud without realizing.
“I don’t think so,” Fujisaki replied, snapping him out of his moping. “I think you’re just being protective of Adachi-kun, like you always are.”
“You really do see the best in people, Fujisaki-san,” Kurosawa said with a smile. “But for this, I don’t think I deserve it.”
“All the more you should talk to him about it, right?” Fujisaki pointed out. “If it’s bothering you that much, Adachi-kun would want to hear about it.”
Kurosawa could only stare at Fujisaki in awe as she packed her bento. How she was able to figure all this relationship stuff out better than he can would always be a mystery to him.
“Thanks, Fujisaki-san,” he said after a while.
“Don’t mention it,” she replied. “Just promise me you’ll talk to Adachi-kun about it soon, okay?”
Kurosawa nodded with more confidence this time around.
He brings it up to Adachi that night.
Kurosawa took pride in how meticulously he prepared for his presentations, running all the scenarios in his head and knowing what to say to each of them. Whenever it came to Adachi, though, words would just spill out of him haphazardly, and he wouldn’t know how to stop unless he ran out of breath or Adachi kissed him out of his blabbering. (The second one happened this time, which he very much preferred.)
“For the record, Fujisaki-san’s right about you not being a selfish fool,” Adachi said after a while. Kurosawa was now in one of his favorite places - resting his head on Adachi’s lap as Adachi ran his hand through his hair. “I’m glad that you don’t want to let me go that easily.”
“What did I do to deserve you, Kiyoshi?” Kurosawa breathed out. “I’m still sorry for not bringing it up earlier.”
“It’s okay, you needed time to process things,” Adachi said as he switched to patting Kurosawa’s head. “As for me, it was easier for me to process because I knew how much people admired you long before I started, uhmm, admiring you myself.”
Kurosawa held back his teasing—Adachi rarely got this sappy, so he was going to make the most out of it.
“How did you get over it? The jealousy?” he chose to say instead.
“I don’t think I have,” Adachi admitted with a shrug. “And I don’t think I ever will. I just accepted it, I guess. My boyfriend’s amazing enough to get everyone’s attention, and I’m the lucky one who gets him all to myself.”
Kurosawa sat up at that. Before Adachi could react, Kurosawa leaned in for a kiss.
“You always say that I’m the more experienced one in the relationship, Kiyoshi, but you’re definitely the more mature one,” he said afterward.
Kurosawa could see Adachi blush at that, and he responded by kissing his reddened cheeks.
“You know, Yuichi, there is one way we can solve both our problems,” Adachi said after a while.
“Hm?”
“We could stop hiding our relationship.”
Kurosawa paused at that. He admittedly had it in his mind the whole time he was overhearing his co-workers, but he knew that he would never tell anyone anything unless Adachi was ready. It took a while for them to tell—or rather, confirm to—Fujisaki, and it took even longer before they decided to tell Rokkaku. Both of them knew that telling everyone else in the office was both a huge leap and a huge risk.
“K-Kiyoshi, you know what you’re saying, right?” Kurosawa said after a while.
“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about it for some time,” Adachi replied. “I know I said I wanted to make myself irreplaceable in the office, and I think I’m getting there. At least, from what Urabe-san told me in the meeting today.”
If Adachi could still read Kurosawa’s mind, he would see himself being surrounded by a choir of angels. His biggest dream, after getting together with Adachi, was to proclaim to the world that they were together. And his own angel was giving him the go signal.
“I don’t want to make some grand announcement or anything, though,” Adachi continued. “I just want them to find out organically. Any ideas?”
Kurosawa’s thoughts immediately jumped to the ring box in his side of the drawer, one he’s had for almost a month now.
“Yeah, I have an idea.”