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"Gorilla!"
The doors to Sia la luce swung open with a bang. It was an intensity that was fairly familiar to the place, even precisely being the reason why wooden doors were chosen during the restaurant's construction. It's already late evening, the lights already switched off save for the one above the bar counter, behind which Kojiro stood, wiping down water glasses.
"Good evening to you, too," he greeted Kaoru, who was, of course, the only person with the gall to bang on Sia la luce's doors.
(And the only person to ever be banged against Sia la luce's doors, Kojiro thought with a smirk, remembering times before work permits and health codes were in place.)
He placed down the glass he was wiping and was about to move to another one when a hand slammed down on the counter hard enough for the stack of silverware to rattle. Kaoru's glare flashed at him from the other side.
"What is this about a miai?"
Kojiro's eyebrow rose. For sure, Kaoru strung words as though he expected whoever was unfortunate enough to be speaking with him to immediately get the way his brain jumped. It sometimes caught Kojiro off-guard, even after all these years. "What is this about a miai?" he asked.
This lukewarm reaction only seemed to anger Kaoru—not that that was any surprise.
"You think the news wouldn't reach me?" Kaoru asked, pulling back as though his 182 centimeters would do anything over Kojiro's own height. "All year-round, I've had it up to here with people coming into my shop to blab about the most inane gossip on the island. Do you think I wouldn't hear about your marriage plans from them?"
This time, Kojiro's voice also rose. "My what?"
Kaoru waved a hand in the air as his voice shifted to an annoying falsetto. "'Oh, that Italian chef, that big sack of muscle—'"
Kojiro would have paid not to watch Kaoru's awful imitation of the local town gossip.
"'—you know what I heard? I hear he's open to marriage meetings now. It's about time, isn't it, because what's he like now, forty?'"
"Oi—"
"'Oh, Ryoko-san, isn't your daughter also of marrying age? Maybe you should introduce them, yes? Why, Sakurayashiki-sensei, you do not have any sisters, do you? Maybe you would have recommendations for the good chef?'"
Kaoru stopped to scowl. "I had to set them straight, of course, and told them the devastating news—” he pauses for effect “—that you are not, in fact, Italian."
This surprised a snort out of Kojiro, who pulled back quickly, reflecting back on everything else that Kaoru just said. "So you're listening to gossip now?"
"They were up to my ear about it, weren't they?" Kaoru practically growled as he rounded back on Kojiro. "Are you serious? A marriage meeting, Kojiro? For what? Suddenly you're unhappy with your life?"
Kaoru's pink hair had pulled out from its loose tie and had fallen all around his face. They framed the angry flush on his cheeks, the color deepening the more he complained, in a way that Kojiro had the misfortune to find quite pretty and becoming.
He jumped when Kaoru snapped his fingers between his eyes.
"Hey jackass, are you listening to me?"
Kojiro scratched at the back of his head. "Yeah, yeah…"
He sighed and grabbed a bottle of red from the shelves behind him, picking one he knew Kaoru favored. He then bent to reach beneath the counter to grab two wine glasses, which he set on the table before them, filling them with wine.
"What is this really about, Kaoru?" he asked as he poured. Once that's done, he stood at full height with his arms crossed over his chest, eyeing the other man across the bar. "So what if I meet people for marriage? Why does the idea make you angry?"
"I'm not angry, you idiot. I'm appalled!" Kaoru's fist clenched around the fan he suddenly had in his hand and poked it over at Kojiro. "You? Married? Only someone with a vendetta would throw you into the local marriage pool."
"Now what is that supposed to mean?"
"You never even wanted to get married!"
"I never said that," Kojiro denied. "Of course I want to marry and settle down."
Kojiro didn't think it was that surprising a news, but Kaoru pulled back as though Kojiro just doused him with cold water.
"What?" he asked, voice sounding steady only to an untrained ear.
Kojiro frowned. "What do you mean 'what'?"
"You never told me that before."
"It never came up?" Kojiro scratched at the back of his head again. "But come on, we're already past thirty—"
"So there's a time limit now?"
"For fucking around, yeah!"
"Oh, so that's what you'd call it then? Just 'fucking around'?"
Before Kojiro knew it, Kaoru had crossed over their imaginary battle line. Suddenly he, too, was behind the bar, fists balled tightly on Kojiro's shirt, golden eyes shining.
"So that's it?" This time, Kaoru’s voice shook more clearly. He barrelled on bravely though, and Kojiro of course must be the only person stupid enough to find that endearing even with Kaoru's angry mug all but shoved into his face. "So we're just fucking all these years but now you want your stupid detached house with your stupid wife and stupid smelly children?"
“Hey.” Kojiro wrapped a hand around the fists holding tightly on to his shirt. “That wasn’t what I said.”
"It’s exactly what you said!"
"I said I wanted to marry. I didn't say what that looks like for me."
Carefully, he pried Kaoru’s fingers from his shirt. He didn’t immediately let him go, giving Kaoru’s hands a firm squeeze instead, warm and steady.
"First, let's get one thing straight: there is no miai,” he declared. “You know how gossip is. I talk about wanting to marry with my mom and suddenly I'm up for marriage meetings? Hell no." Another squeeze. "But I do want to settle down."
Kaoru’s lips pressed into a stubborn line. That line even threatened to curl further down, but Kaoru turned stubbornly away before Kojiro could see, tried to pull his hands free. Kojiro kept his hold however, his one hand enough to keep Kaoru's more slender ones in place, so he was able to use his other hand to lift Kaoru's chin up to meet his eyes.
“Kaoru, hear me out.”
“Who the fuck wants to hear your stupid ideas, you stupid gorilla—”
Kaoru tried to struggle away, but Kojiro's touch is firm, keeping their eyes locked together. He bent forward so they're standing even closer, eye to eye.
"What that looks like to me is having that one person to come home to after a long day. Not just for sex… though the sex is nice. Guess it doesn’t hurt that he’s always been my type, ever since we were kids."
It was satisfying, seeing Kaoru’s eyes widen in the warm lights. “What?”
Kojiro couldn’t help kissing him then, because Kaoru looked too adorable when he’s confused, especially when it’s mixed with a bit of embarrassment that dusted his cheeks as pink as his hair. When Kojiro dipped a tongue in to taste, it coaxed a breathy sound from Kaoru.
"It's me watching his face when he eats the food I make…" He pulled Kaoru's head back and slid slow kisses down his throat, lips brushing against soft skin as he spoke. "It's the way we bicker like an old married couple even as far back as when we were seventeen. I thought, wouldn't it be nice to be like that for real?"
"Wait, Kojiro—" Kaoru's words cut to a moan as Kojiro nipped at his ear.
"It would be nice to settle on a house," Kojiro whispered against the shell of Kaoru's ear, loving the way Kaoru shivered under his touch. "It doesn't need to be big, just comfortable for the two of us. Near the restaurant and the calligraphy studio would be ideal. Unfortunately, there are probably going to be smelly children, like you mentioned. Teenagers, but I guess that's inevitable considering our hobby is skateboarding."
"So you…" Kaoru visibly swallowed, fingers clutching at Kojiro's sleeves. "You meant me?"
Kojiro pulled back just enough to raise an eyebrow at him. "Yeah? Who else is it going to be?"
Kaoru's mouth opened and closed, his eyes flitting around Kojiro's face and behind his head, thoughts clearly going a mile a minute. He belatedly pushed out of Kojiro's arms as though he just remembered to do so, fixing his hair and straightening his favorite blue kimono.
He jutted his chin out when he looked back at Kojiro. "Where's the ring then?"
Kojiro, undeterred, only stared at Kaoru for two seconds before he was bending down to reach behind the lower cabinets behind the bar. Hand around his prize, he stood back up again, reached down and pulled Kaoru's hand and all but slapped the tiny box in the middle of the man's palm.
"Holy fuck." Kaoru's eyes were even wider as he stared at the little pink box. "I was kidding."
Kojiro heaved a sigh. "Piece of shit. Give it back to me if you don't want it then."
"N-No!" Kaoru's fingers closed around the box and clutched it close to his chest. "I mean, you don't take gifts back, asshole."
"It wasn't—" Kojiro groaned. "Can we at least do this properly?"
'Properly' of course meant opening the thing, their two heads bowed on either side of it as Kojiro revealed two gold rings. They were identical with a simple design, one Kojiro thought at least was the middle ground to their very different styles. On the inside, he had engraved an infinity sign.
Kaoru sounded breathless when he spoke. "God. You cheesy motherfu—"
"I can still take it back, you know."
"Put it on me quickly."
For all that they still bickered even up to this point, Kojiro nonetheless felt his throat closing as he slid the ring on Kaoru's slender finger. As he did so, a house with a view of clear blue seas flashed before his eyes, and in the air was the scent of salt, a home-cooked meal, and Kaoru's hair.
"Motherfucker—"
Kojiro was just about to reprimand Kaoru again when his arms were suddenly full, Kaoru's arms wrapped tightly around Kojiro's neck.
"Fuck. You crazy fuck."
Kojiro sighed, but his lips were stretched into a smile. His arms went around Kaoru. "Love you, too, nerd."