Work Text:
Kaji took his time on his way to the store. He was so goddamn pissed after this day and going immediately to work didn’t make it better. It wasn't his fault that this entire day went from bad to worse, starting right at the morning.
His first lesson was self study, in which he planned to catch up with very much needed sleeping hours, but his teacher called him out for a private talk in the teachers’ lounge. He knew why, because he didn't bother to turn in his form about his future plans, but that was because he didn't really have any! He didn't want to go to university, so his only option was to get a job right after graduation, but fuck him if he knew what kind of job. He was half a year away from it, so of course he wouldn't know! He'd just interview for anything possible and take whatever he got. But no, his teacher didn't find it funny, so she had him sitting down and lectured him for half an hour about how important it was to think about his future.
Later that day, it got worse when some students from the other class pushed him around the stairs. So yeah, he might've punched them, but it was totally reasonable, he almost fell down the stairs! And there, his second talk with the teacher, in the fucking same day. He knew his parents would receive a call about that, so he didn't want to get to work fast, because that would mean he was closer to coming home and getting yet another lecture.
But, try as he might, he was still walking to his part time job. His steps might've been slower, but he still got there at the end. With a sigh that turned into a huff, he put his bag in his locker and changed his shirt. After he wore the store's shirt, he put on the tag and he was ready to clock in.
The assistant manager waited next to the register, smiling warmly before he realized that Kaji was in a foul mood.
“What happened to you?” Hiragi asked.
“Don't.” Kaji groaned. “Don't even ask. I wish I was already out of school.”
“Oh, trust me, it's not all rainbows and sunshine.” Hiragi snorted. Being a year senior, Hiragi worked in his store for the past four years, getting the assistant manager spot when he was only in second year. He was also that one that helped Kaji get the job, though he wasn't lenient with him, even stricter if needed. Back then, Kaji only wanted something for a few months, but he found he enjoyed the atmosphere in the store so he stayed for longer. He would've stayed after graduation, in all honesty, but he always dreamed of moving to Tokyo, so that was out of the question. Hiragi would also quit soon, in three more months, since he found a better job, so one more reason not to stay around after he graduated.
“By the way, we finally found another part time worker.”
“About fucking time!” The best news Kaji heard that day, though it wasn't much of a competition considering what he went through. “God, and we had another one quitting last month, I thought we're gonna have to close one afternoon or something.”
“Yeah, same.” Hiragi smiled in sympathy, despite being the one the most affected since he was the one that had to pick up the shifts. Duty of an assistant manager and all, Kaji pitied him so he agreed to work two more shifts, but it seriously ate at his free time. Some weeks he was tempted to ask Hiragi for Gas-10 just because he was too stressed for his own good.
“So I'll go explain him how things are workin’ around here. Can you restock the shelves in the meanwhile? Ah, there's also this order we got on the phone, I put in the cabinet.”
“Sure, you got it.” Kaji turned to open the cardboard box they received a few days ago. The first album he saw was a band he recognized and he sucked in a breath. The very reason he enjoyed working at a music store, especially one catered to the hard rock fans, because he got to find new bands all the time. Most of their stock was CDs in English though, so he had to sing the ABC song in his head to find the right shelves.
After twenty minutes and three cardboard boxes, Hiragi appeared with a person in tow.
“This is Kaji Ren, he's been working here for two years, if you got any problem you can turn to him.” Hiragi was talking to the other. Kaji had to take a double look, since their new worker was supporting an interesting hairstyle – half black and half white, but Kaji wasn't judging, he'd seen worse in the scene. Also, looks like it was natural, if Kaji went by the white eyebrow and eyelashes, huh. “Kaji, this is Sakura Haruka, make sure to look after him.”
“Yeah, okay.” He answered. Sakura Haruka, aside from having the cutest name Kaji ever heard, was showing extreme panic at the situation. Kaji wondered if he was the same when he started working here. Oh, he probably wasn't, having Hiragi being the one who taught him the steps. But Hiragi was an assistant manager now, he was supposed to be in the office and do boring shit like order stock and go through the bills, fuck if Kaji knew what exactly he did. He just knew it involved math and he didn't want to do that job. That meant that Kaji was responsible for Sakura Haruka, so with one final look from Hiragi, encouraging him to take the reins, he awkwardly cleared his throat.
“Yes, uh, well, come here and I'll show you the basics.”
Sakura knew how to operate the register, which made him a better coworker than the two who came before him, and he did fine stocking the shelves. Kaji even caught him humming the ABC song, just like him, so he figured the other was alright.
Despite the good first impression, problems started arising when customers entered the stores. The first two customers didn't require any help, browsing the shelves and getting the CDs they wanted on their own. The third, however, needed help and Sakura was the closest to him so he asked Sakura.
“Where do I find this album?” The customer showed Sakura his phone screen, but Sakura only returned a blank look. Kaji let him try for a few more minutes, but when it was apparent that Sakura didn't know and didn't make any attempt to search for it on the computer, Kaji stepped in. he recognized the album and didn't have to search for it in the system, immediately taking the customer to the right shelf. He cut Sakura some slack because that one was in English and the band's logo was impossible to read, like most metal bands.
Yet, that happened again and again over the next few hours. Kaji was starting to get suspicious because, well, not everyone might be a fan of rock and metal, but their store also carried CDs of popular singers, which Sakura didn't seem to know either. Just how obscure was his taste in music? Out of curiosity, he had to ask.
Once the store was empty of customers, he went to Sakura and started a conversation. Sucking at small talk meant he straight out asked what he wanted to know. “What kind of music do you listen to?”
“I don't really listen to music.”
What…?! No way, surely he was exaggerating. “Like, at all?” He had to make sure.
Sakura simply nodded as a response. “Not a huge fan of music.”
“But…we're working at a music store?!”
“So what!” Sakura became defensive upon seeing Kaji's reaction to that information. “I don't see why that would matter. It's not like you need to…uh, be a fan of soba to work at a soba restaurant!”
That was…oddly specific? Whatever, Kaji found it insulting that the other didn't listen to music. Music is just…just so good! Not listening to music was weird! He had the need to fix that, so he came up with a plan.
“Sakura.” He found the other in the locker room, right after clocking out and getting out of his uniform.
“Augh!” Sakura jumped back and covered his upper body with the shirt he just took off. “W-what do you want?”
“Just come here.” Kaji was impatient. He waited all day for this, but today was particularly busy since a famous band was having a concert nearby soon. Kaji was also a fan, but he got tired of restocking the same shelves and being asked about the special bonus.
“Lemme get dressed first!” With this, Sakura practically shoved him out of the locker room. God, how annoying, this wasn't the first time Sakura insisted on changing while no one was around, but Kaji didn't get the point. They were both boys, so why did he get so shy about it? Hiragi told him to respect Sakura's boundaries though, so sure, he let him have his space. Not that it mattered, Kaji already saw the funny birthmark on his back. It was shaped like a pancake and thinking about it made Kaji hungry. He quickly texted his mother that he wanted pancakes for dinner as he waited for Sakura to finally get out of the locker room.
“What the fuck did you want?” Sakura huffed, clearly angry at what happened earlier.
“C'mere.” Kaji signaled him to come even closer. He shoved his hand into his pocket and took out his earphones, because he'd rather jump off a building before giving anyone his iconic headphones, and by then, Sakura already got a gist of what was about to happen.
“You gotta be kidding me.” He was groaning. “I don't like music!”
“I don't care!” Kaji was just as stubborn. “Just listen to a few songs, okay?” Naturally, Sakura had to have an incentive to listen to Kaji, no one wanted to stay after shift for something they disliked doing. But fortunately, anyone who talked to Sakura for more than five minutes could realize his weakness, and Kaji wasn't above using it. “I'll get you a croquette from the butcher store next street.”
Sakura considered it for a few seconds, yet the temptation was too strong. “Alright, but not for too long.” He ended up giving in rather easily.
“Of course, of course.” Kaji had been thinking about it for a while and the bands he came up with were pretty famous. They were well-known for a reason, after all, surely Sakura would enjoy one of them. He pushed the headphones into Sakura’s hand and then searched for his special playlist. Once he saw that Sakura put the earphones in, he pressed play.
“Ah, this is so loud!” Sakura yelled at him, so Kaji lowered the volume. “This sounds terrible, what the fuck.”
Okay, then perhaps Metallica wasn't a good choice, Kaji noted it down and tried another one, yet Sakura only wore a sour expression, as though he didn't understand any of the music playing. Kaji tried it all – various sub genres of metal and rock, from the 70's to the most recent bands, and Sakura gave him the same reaction to anything he’d paly.
“This music sucks big time.” He complained. “Too loud, too noisy, just..too much!” As expected from Sakura, his explanation was far from eloquent, and Kaji grumbled because that was a bad description for songs which didn't sound the same at all. As a last resort, he found one of his favorite bands, an extremely obscure one that Kaji accidentally found, and played it for Sakura.
“And it's getting worse.” Sakura ripped the earphones out of his ears. “Why are they always screaming? Is it supposed to sound good? Because it isn't. I can't even tell what they're saying!”
Oh boy, Kaji’s eye twitched as he tried to ignore the remark about a band he really appreciated. Sakura obviously wouldn't understand the lyrics – because they sang in Finnish! – and they weren't screaming! There were two singers, one of them was doing a bit of growling, yes, but it enhanced the singing of the other singer and…and…
Music is subjective, music is subjective… He reminded himself. He can't be angry at Sakura just because he was…apparently…deaf…!
“Croquette?”
“Huh?”
“You promised me a croquette. C'mon, I stayed for twenty minutes!” Sakura crossed his arms. “I expect two croquettes!”
“What can I say, you really know your worth.” Kaji retored sarcastically, rolling his eyes. “How about three?”
Sakura completely missed the sarcasm though. He looked excited at the offer, instead. “Three? Really? I want three!”
“No, I didn’t mean…!” But Sakura's eyes were sparkling. “Fine, whatever, I'll get your three, so just listen to this next playlist on the way there – “
Indie rock, that could work! He had a playlist he shared with Kusumi, specifically created for their study sessions so it was much quieter than his usual music.
“That wasn’t in the deal, but…” Sakura said. “Fine, I can do that. Three croquettes and you can't dip out, otherwise I'm telling Hiragi you scammed me.”
“Damn, okay. Is not like I was going to run away, you know. We work together after all, nowhere to run to, even if I really wanted to.”
“Hm, that's right.” Sakura nodded to himself in satisfaction. “Then let's go now.”
“I get, I get it already!” Sakura narrowly escaped from Kaji and hid behind the counter. “Stop it!”
“What…is going on?” Hiragi popped his head out of the office, looking at his two part time workers playing around in the store. Kaji was chasing Sakura and, in times like this, he recalled how young they were. “Be careful next to the merchandise.” He warned them, clearing his throat so he wouldn’t start laughing. Kaji was looking grumpy as ever, but Sakura looked like he enjoyed the chase, hiding a small smile when he dodged and hid behind different displays. It would be bad if a customer entered the store right at that moment, but he didn't have the heart to scold them for having a bit of fun.
“Tell him to stop!” Sakura managed to yelp before he was tackled by Kaji, who also took down a display with him.
“Kaji…” Hiragi caught the display in time. “Enough is enough. Why are you chasin’ him?”
“The promotion we are having.” Kaji raised his head, flawlessly pinning Sakura under him as he explained his intention. He was short of breath, most likely because of the chase they just had, so he took a big breath between each word. “The one for White Knights?”
“Yes, they just released a new acoustic album…”
“I'm trying to have this dumbass listen to it.”
Hiragi sighed. He wasn't being paid enough to deal with this. “Give ‘em a try, Sakura. I think you'll like them, to be honest.”
“Yeah, you heard Hiragi-san?” Kaji turned to smile smugly at Sakura, but folded back as Sakura kicked the inner part of knee. “Ouch, motherfucker!”
“Serves you right!” Sakura jumped on his feet.
“Hah, you two…” Hiragi let out another heavy sigh. “Alright, Sakura, lemme put on their most recent song.”
Kaji rubbed his knee, struggling to stand up because it was such a sensitive spot, when he heard the usual music they were playing being replaced by the mellow strumming of the guitar. God, he loved that song…it came out last week and it was all he could listen to.
“Oh, that's not so bad…” Sakura took in the music. “You're right, it's actually pretty nice.”
What! So this worked out?! Kaji forgot he was in pain and stood up quickly. If Sakura enjoyed this song, then Kaji knew what other bands he could recommend!
“Oh, that was a good reminder, actually. I need you in the office, Kaji.” Hiragi stopped the music before the next song could start playing. “We'll be back in a minute, alright, Sakura?”
“But…Hiragi-san!” Kaji whined. He wanted to write down the songs he thought about before he'd forget them. Despite that, he dutifully followed Hiragi to the office.
“Trust me, you wanna hear this news.” Hiragi pulled an envelope from his desk drawer. “Once again, we got the best sales in the district, mostly thanks to you.”
“Ah, this isn’t anything new.” Kaji tried to hide his blush. He thought he'd get used to it by now, turning out to be a more aggressive seller than he'd expected himself to be. This, alongside the fact he took on too many shifts in the past year, meant their store was regularly winning prizes for their high sales.
“Right, but I think you'd rather like the prize now.” Hiragi smirked. He would never say something he didn't mean to, so Kaji had higher hopes, maybe a two thousand yen coupon?
He was positively bewildered when he opened the envelope and saw two tickets for the upcoming concert of White Knights. “Are you serious?!”
“Yeah, heh. Told you so.”
Wait… Sakura seemed to enjoy at least one song of White Knights, this might be the way to get him into music! He quickly turned on his heels, but not before Hiragi continued talking.
“Oh, so you already got someone you wanna go with?”
Fuck, that's right! He made a habit to first invite Hiragi to every concert he got tickets to, before asking his friends! “Uh, I didn't mean to…”
“It's okay, I’m not complaining. If anythin’, I'm happy that you're thinking about your friends first. Now go and have some fun.”
“Um, right.” Kaji nodded awkwardly. How could he admit he was in some weird competition with himself to get Sakura to listen to music? He figured leaving the office and letting Hiragi believe that he was getting more friendly was the better decision.
Sakura was tidying the displays they almost knocked earlier when Kaji came back. Even though he was visibly curious, he didn't ask why Kaji was called to the office.
“Hey, guess what?” Kaji hurried to his side.
“I dunno, I'm bad at guessing.” Sakura defiantly shrugged and pretended he didn't care.
“I just got tickets for the White Knight concert!”
“Okay, and…?”
“You're coming with me, dumbass.”
“Hah?! Don't decide for me! What if I have something to do!”
Kaji scanned Sakura from head to toe. “Yeah right. Anyway, it's in two weeks, on Friday.”
“Asshole!” Sakura made a disgruntled noise.
“I didn't hear a no.” He was disregarding Sakura's initial refusal. “I'll also send you their songs, so make sure you listen to them.”
“What is this, homework I need to do to attend some stupid concert?” Sakura mumbled under his breath. He still didn't say no, though, and Kaji just knew. This doofus actually liked hanging out with people, he just needed a little push, heh.
The concert was…alright. Sakura was confused at first and it took him until the last hour to warm up to the idea of concerts. Fortunately, White Knights performed their most popular songs again towards the end, so Sakura could open his eyes widely as he recognized yet another song. Kaji assumed the noise was too overwhelming at the beginning, thus Sakura couldn't enjoy his first concert to its fullest.
What mattered, though, was that he was more open-minded and that was a win for Kaji. They spent more time after shifts, simply hanging out in Kaji's house and listening to more and more CDs. Sakura, as it turned out to be, was a fan of symphonic metal, a genre that Kaji knew of but didn’t listen to on a regular basis. They had to do the research together, but most of the time was spent throwing pillows at each other.
Today was just the same, with the slight difference of Sakura scarfing down the cookies Kaji's mother brought earlier.
“Don’t eat on my bed.” Kaji pushed him half-heartedly. “I don't want crumbs on my bed.”
“Uh ah.” Sakura talked with his mouth full of cookies, absolutely disgusting. He didn't make any effort to move off of Kaji's bed, of course.
“Argh.” Kaji groaned. Sakura lazing on his bed became a familiar sight as of recently, even Hiragi commented about how close they were. Kaji was…hesitant. He achieved his goal, yet he still spent time with Sakura.
Why?
They were coworkers, it made sense for them to be on friendly terms, but to the point of hanging out almost every weekend? Just to listen to some music? Were they even friends? Kaji wasn't certain, when he looked at Sakura, currently shoving in as many cookies as possible into his mouth, he felt different than he'd feel if he, say, looked at Kusumi or Enomoto. If he had to describe it, it was a feeling that thumped quietly but deeply inside his chest, a feeling that was spicy, for some reason?
Ugh, confusing.
“Say, Kaji.” Sakura swallowed his mouthful of cookies quickly. An amazing miracle that he didn't choke on them. “Can you actually play on it?” He pointed at the guitar hung on the wall.
“What do you think? Of course I can!” Sakura was always too blunt as well, but it didn't annoy Kaji as much as it should.
“Then…did you ever think about joining a band?”
“Uh, not..not really.” He cringed as he pushed away the thoughts of his middle school dreams. That was before he punched the singer during a small gig, and was consequently banned from the venue. The owner actually remembered that, Kaji was slightly scared to push his luck so he avoided the place even when bands he liked performed there. “Not my thing, y'know, to be in the center of attention.”
“Could've fooled me.” Sakura snorted. “You really made that man buy ten CDs yesterday, huh?”
He leaned to take a cookie, but Kaji slapped his hand away. No cookies for him if he was being that rude. “Yeah, whatever. What's your point?”
“Ah, it's just…” Sakura, out of the blue, became shy and blushed profusely. “I wanna to…” His mumbles were impossible to understand.
“What do you wanna do?”
“Um…learn to play the guitar?”
“What…?” Kaji took a minute to regain his composure. For someone who didn't even listen to music up until two months ago, Sakura was definitely ambitious! “Have you ever played on…anything?”
“No.”
“And why do you think I'll be a good teacher, for fuck’s sake?” Kaji absolutely lacked the patience to teach anyone anything. Only a fool would think he'd be a good teacher, but then again, Sakura wasn't that far off from a fool.
“Because…” The blush spread to his ears. “You're always nice to me?”
Oh, hell no. That wasn't the excuse he was expecting!
“What? Why do you look at me like this?” Sakura moved backwards.
“I'm nice? How?!”
“You…you are! You always take care of me…”
“I…!” Kaji wanted to deny, but he wasn’t in a position to do so. His actions bore the truth, unlike his words, and he did use Hiragi as his role model. He didn’t think that Sakura would ever notice, boy was too oblivious, and that was without including the things he did behind Sakura’s back. Such as putting some sales under Sakura’s name so he'd get a bigger bonus at the end of the month, but if he started thinking about it he’d get as red as Sakura. “Whatever.” He sulked.
“Huh? So what about the guitar?” Sakura was also sulky.
“What about the guitar?!” His priorities, I swear! “Fuck, I'll teach you, if you're so bent on it. Just don't complain if I'm a shitty teacher.”
“For real?” Sakura leaned forward and placed his hands on Kaji’s shoulders, shaking him as if he didn't believe the words that came out of Kaji's mouth seconds ago.
“Yes, yes, for real, now stop shaking me!” Kaji grabbed Sakura's right elbow. This position…was too close, making his throat feel dry. That calming thumping in his chest beame quicker. This was…unbearable.
Kaji was never the type to think of his actions before. Better to ask for forgiveness than permission was a mantra he lived by, so he wasn't surprised that he acted on his emotions. However, the nature of his action was…odd. His grip on Sakura's elbow became stronger and it made him hiss at Kaji, who paid no heed to Sakura's reaction. Despite clearly looking at Sakura's face, his head was empty of thoughts, only focusing on Sakura's lips.
“K-kaji…” Sakura wasn't pulling his arm away. No, he squeezed Kaji's shoulder instead. His voice felt louder to Kaji's ears, his hearing unexpectedly sharp. He could also hear the song in the background and the lyrics formed thoughts in his head.
To have you here by me.
Sakura wouldn't know. He couldn't understand songs in English. Kaji couldn't either, to be honest, but he knew this song, this was one of the very firsts he'd heard when he started hanging out with Hiragi. The moment he realized what this feeling he'd been harboring was, he felt like an idiot for not noticing it before.
And Sakura? Sakura looked like a deer caught in headlights. His lips were trembling and his eyes were wide open, showing Kaji's reflection in them in two different shades. Kaji moved himself slightly closer, until it was too awkward to look at each other, and watched as Sakura's eyelids fluttered shut. He let his nose bump against Sakura's and rubbed it for a few seconds, before he quickly leaned back, feeling too shy.
“Huh?” Sakura opened his eyes. “What was that?” He rubbed his nose. Just from looking at him, Kaji could feel a tingly feeling on his own nose.
“That was…” He contemplated before he went ahead and told Sakura. “An Eskimo kiss, actually.”
Sakura's blush turned a shade darker, making his neck red as well. Although Kaji was almost just as bad, he felt rather smug about how he gained one on Sakura. “Oh, so we were talking about the guitar, right? Here, lemme grab it and I'll teach you some chords.”
Later that evening, he cursed himself for missing the opportunity, going for a lame kiss instead of the real thing. Though, he found comfort in the promise they made plans to meet next week for more guitar lessons. That time, for sure, he’d do that.