Work Text:
Soft open tomorrow night, dress casual ^_^
Mine squints at the text preview on his phone, heart picking up as the letters come together in his mind. It isn’t so much that the text is out of character, but instead that Mine is still weak to its effects. He flips open his phone, squinting slightly as the brightness of the screen against the dim of his office – more time having passed than he realized.
The text comes with a photo attached showing the front of a building with a large banner proclaiming it will be opening soon. It looks trendy enough from the outside, clean edges and a large front window. The decals on the window indicate it’s some kind of bistro, casual is most likely the best level of dress even for a soft opening but....
He flips the phone shut, pressing it firmly into his palm. Casual... such a loaded word. He could reply and ask for a confirmation. It would be easy to. Mine’s thumb traces along the seam of the phone, digging underneath and threatening to open it again.
So far all his dinner meetings with the chairman have been semi-formal, running out after work or going out on weekends, predictable, safe. Casual is far too unsafe a word. He can’t risk underdressing and besmirching Daigo’s reputation, but overdressing could make them stand out and bring unwanted attention for what should otherwise be a night untethered by Clan business.
To ask, however, is even worse. Not only is it presumptuous, it reeks of desperation, of insecurity. Daigo trusts Mine to know what casual means. Mine knows what casual means.
A knock sounds on his office door, shaking Mine from his thoughts, “Chairman,” Katase calls from the other side, voice muffled through the wood.
“Come in,” Mine calls, flicking on his desk light and slipping his phone, now warm from his hands, into his pants pocket.
“All items for the day have been taken care of,” Katase starts, right hand adjusting her glasses unconsciously, “Tomorrow’s meetings have been confirmed, and all parties updated.”
“Excellent,” Mine nods. Katase is an excellent secretary, always exemplary in her performance. Proactive and dependable, Mine isn’t sure she’s ever called in sick. She’s more his right-hand than his own Captain, “Thank you, Katase. Good work today.”
“It’s getting late you know, sir,” Katase lingers in the doorway, light spilling in from the hall and leaving her a silhouette, “Everything is set, you should head home.”
“Of course,” Mine replies, “Have a good evening.”
“You as well, sir.”
The door closes behind Katase, leaving Mine alone again, the weight of his phone heavy against his thigh. He knows what casual means. He takes the phone out of his pocket and makes his reply.
See you then.
*
The next day, Mine leaves the office after lunch, requesting Katase to put all business through his cell phone, as he’ll be working from home for the rest of the day. The workload is relatively light, just finalizing a few reports and spreadsheets for the end-of-month Clan finance review. This leaves him with plenty of time to prepare for a night out.
There are three ways this can go, with garden casual being disqualified both due to the time of year (too early) and location (decidedly not outdoors). Mine’s certain casual can’t mean casual either, as this is an event after all, it would be abhorrent to show up in lounge wear or even plain jeans. He flips through his closet, mentally crossing out certain pieces and tossing others onto the bed behind him. Really, that leaves two options: smart and business.
Turning to the bed, Mine’s met with his haphazard pile of various sweaters, pants, and shirts. He sighs, one hand coming to his hip and the other sweeping through his hair. He can feel his hair still crusted with gel. He needs a shower and to recentre his thoughts.
Hopping in the shower as quickly as he can, Mine sighs as the water washes over his shoulders, scalding hot – exactly how he could never have it before. It’s bad for his skin, leaves it dry and his hair susceptible to damage, but the bone-deep warmth is worth the extra steps in his routine.
Mine ruminates as he stands under the water. Ultimately, the goal is to match Daigo’s level of dress. Would he dress down from their usual fare for work or dress up from his off-duty clothes? As the question passes through Mine’s mind, he realizes he has no idea how Daigo would dress outside of work. He’s heard stories here and there, rumours and snippets of a wild past not so far gone, but none of them ever included a visual description.
Casual isn’t in their lexicon. The most casual Mine has seen Daigo has been on late nights out, blazer off, sleeves rolled up, tie loosened. It’s casual enough, the kind of casual that finds Mine on the precipice with nothing below but unknowns – hopes, fears. They’re friends, after all. Friends should see each other casually, even work ones. It’s the natural progression of their friendship. Mine opens the shower door, desperate for cooler air, the steam and water suddenly so hot he feels ill.
*
The haphazard pile of clothes greets Mine upon his return, disordered enough to add to the simmer of nerves in his gut. It’s no different than any other dinner meeting, he tells himself, there’s no reason to be nervous. It’s just Daigo-san. As if there’s such a thing as just Daigo-san. He sighs, pressing his hands to his face before running them back through his hair. As the damp strands pass through his fingers, they fall back over his forehead landing just at the top of his vision.
He starts by organizing the clothing by article, pants, shirts, sweaters, jackets. He’s already ruled out anything too unseasonal, leaving a range of darker colours and neutrals. There would be nothing inherently wrong with any of his paler or more saturated items in and of themselves in other contexts, of course, but anything too bright would be too casual even for casual, considering the time of year. Once that is done, the true dilemma returns: smart or business.
Mine’s eyes scan across his options. Shape first, colour after, then shoes... oh God shoes. Shoes can wait. Shoes can wait. Shape first, colour after. Should he dress up or dress down? The ultimate question swirls in Mine’s head as he looks from chino to dress pant, button-up to fitted tee.
It takes him far longer than he would ever admit to make the decision. In the end, he decides to play it safe, settling on dark tan dress pants, boot cut, a deep red matte dress shirt, and the matching blazer. He’ll forgo the tie and wear less formal shoes – a respectable business casual.
He rounds out the outfit with a gold watch, a solid, brown belt, and red socks that match the shirt. While fitting everything in place in front of the mirror, he has a moment of hesitation. The look seems far too casual in his mind all of a sudden, no tie, top button undone – he’ll look a fool if he’s misjudged.
“Don’t be stupid,” Mine says to himself, fastening his watch around his wrist, “You know what casual means.”
*
Mine receives a text from Daigo as he pulls into a parking spot, Here ^_^, it reads, I’ll be out front.
Mine swallows, cracking his neck before texting back, Just parking now, will arrive shortly.
Daigo’s response is simply, (^人^)
Mine straightens his face, a small smile somehow having found itself on his lips. He huffs out one last long breath before exiting the car. It’s early evening, sky turning yellow, but still relatively bright. The bistro is a couple of blocks away, hard to miss, what with the line-up that curves around the corner. He scans the crowd as he approaches, unable to pick Daigo out at a glance.
“Mine!”
Daigo flags him down, hand waving to catch Mine’s attention. It doesn’t take Mine long to see he has, perhaps, actually misjudged after all. Had Daigo not seen Mine first, Mine might have walked right past him while looking. From head to toe, Daigo looks like a different person. His hair is down, ungelled, forehead hidden under fringe. He has on a black tank top under a red and black flannel shirt, black jeans with a few artful rips in the thighs that Mine respectfully avoids looking at too closely, and bright, white sneakers. There’s jewellery as well, a few silver rings on his fingers matching the bands that peek out from under the sleeve of his flannel, the delicate chains on his neck, and the studs in his ears.
He looks incredible. It’s hard to look at him. Mine can feel his face grow warm and his heart lodge itself in his throat. He wants to evaporate; he wants to go home; he wants to feel the cool metal of Daigo’s rings against his own fingers; he wants to throw up; he wants—
“You look nice,” Daigo says, looking Mine up and down, before continuing with a chuckle in his voice, “Putting me to shame here.”
“No, I,” Mine struggles to articulate. Daigo must really think he’s an idiot now, “You look nice as well.” Mine slaps himself internally.
Daigo smiles, hurling another cannonball at Mine’s defences, “Well, shall we?” He tilts his head in the direction of the shop, “I got us a reservation; we can skip the line.”
“That was very prudent of you, Daigo-san,” Mine stares at Daigo’s collarbone, trying to compose himself.
“That may just be the first time anyone’s used that word to describe me,” Daigo laughs, patting Mine on the shoulder before moving down the block.
Mine falls into step at Daigo’s side, blood rushing to his face.
*
Inside, the ambience is a bit too bright for Mine’s taste – unstained wood panelling and tile. It might be nice on a quieter evening, but the murmur of voices on every side bounce off the tiles and threaten to overwhelm even at first listen.
A waiter leads them to a table at the back, dropping off their menus before all but running back to the front. Mine stares down at the menu, trying to focus on the words in front of him. Embarrassingly, it’s too loud for him to read, so he puts a finger on the first option marked vegetarian and leaves it at that, hoping he’ll calm down enough to double check.
He looks up, intending to make conversation, only to see Daigo staring at him, eyes tight and lips in a frown Mine usually only sees after long officer meetings. Daigo’s eyes flit downwards once they meet Mine’s, his thumb playing with the corner of the menu.
Any ease Mine had managed to build flies out the window with that. He’s done something to upset Daigo. He needs to say something, to open conversation, to get things back on track, but he can’t. It’s too loud; he can’t focus. It shouldn’t be too loud; he’s been in crowded restaurants before, so why does he have to hit his limit now?
The sound of breaking glass shrieks over everything else, making Mine wince, closing his eyes. What follows is sure to be a hullabaloo of sweeping and apologies and reassurances. Mine takes a deep breath, trying to focus on himself. He’s here; he’s fine; nothing is wrong, so why are you acting like everything is— A soft touch on Mine’s hand startles him.
“Sorry,” Daigo says, taking his hand away.
Mine shakes his head, still unable to get a word out despite himself. Daigo’s looking at him again, frown even deeper, but the tightness in his eyes doesn’t hide the warmth of his gaze.
“Are you all right?” Daigo asks, the deeper tones of his voice rumbling against the chatter that surrounds them.
Mine should say yes, nothing going on around them is out of the ordinary and they haven’t even ordered their food yet, but he doesn’t want to lie to Daigo either. He shakes his head again, breath stuttering in his chest as he inhales.
Daigo stands, chair legs squealing against the floor. He gestures for Mine to stay where he is, before Mine can get up to follow, “Hang tight, I’ll be right back.”
Mine nods, watching as Daigo makes he way through the restaurant. Eventually, he loses sight of him. Thankfully, he returns just as swiftly as he left.
“C’mon,” Daigo says, stepping in close, “Let’s get out of here.”
Mine wants to protest, unwilling to feel like he wasted all of Daigo’s efforts in securing them a table, but he still can’t speak, so he does as he’s told. Truthfully, he’s just as glad to follow Daigo’s suggestion as he would to make himself right.
*
The sun’s nearly set, streetlights and shop signs all fully aglow. It’s much quieter outside, even with the regular sounds of the city around them. They don’t have to walk very far before Mine feels back in control of himself.
“I’m sorry,” he blurts, hands fisted at his sides.
“What for?” Daigo glances his way, slowing his stride until they’re barely walking. There’s a naked concern on his face that Mine doesn’t want to see, as flattering as it is.
“For my behaviour. It was unbecoming of me, especially after you went through the effort of—”
“It’s nothing, Mine. Really,” Daigo stops in his tracks, grabbing Mine by the shoulder, “You don’t need to apologize.”
¨Nevertheless,” Mine starts, face heating up again under Daigo’s eyes, “I should make it up to you.”
“All right,” Daigo claps his hands together, “Takoyaki it is then.”
“Takoyaki it is.”
*
Cheap takoyaki in hand, Daigo leads Mine to a nice park, trees rustling in the breeze. It’s calm, nothing but regular traffic noise and the buzz of streetlights. Daigo climbs up onto a park bench, sitting on the edge with his feet on the seat. It’s a juvenile pose, but Mine can’t find it in himself to care. He sits down properly and Daigo kicks his knee lightly before saying some cheesy joke that barely gets a polite smile in response.
Mine wants this moment to last forever. Just the two of them, greasy food so hot Daigo burnt the roof of his mouth in his haste to eat it. It’s easy, being with Daigo like this. It’s... casual.