Chapter Text
“Dad, I can’t find my other shoe.”
Takumi sighed wearily. Of course, the one day he couldn’t really be late for work, his son can’t seem to get himself together. His son, who could spot a spider a mile away, can’t even find his shoes. His typical luck. He walked down the hall to peek into Kiragi’s room.
Kiragi was upturning everything, grumbling as he searched. Takumi couldn’t help but snicker a little at his son’s face, scrunched in concentration as he tried to remember where he may have put it. He came beside Kiragi, putting a hand on his shoulder and looking under the blanket that was discarded from his bed when he woke up that morning, the offending shoe underneath. He looked down and raised an eyebrow at his son, a small huff of laughter escaping. He rolled his eyes as Kiragi laughed, and helped him tie his shoes, packed his lunch in his bag, and held his hand as he lead them out the door to walk to school that morning.
It was a short walk, Kiragi’s school just a couple blocks away, but the mornings were something Takumi enjoyed. A bit of peace before the day was to start.
Takumi was usually more vocal, making polite small talk with Kiragi as a father usually would to his son, but today was quite different, and Kiragi could tell, observant as ever. He held onto Takumi’s hand tightly, babbling about something or other he would be coloring in class that day to fill the silence, and Takumi nodded as he lost himself in his own thoughts. Today, the bakery he worked for would be merging with their rival because the owners fell in love, or something stupid like that. It was ridiculous, he knew, but the simple idea itself made his blood boil. All the people who worked at Cafe Nohr were haughty, pompous assholes, and Takumi only intended to cooperate because he needed a job to feed himself and his kid, not because he wanted to. Subaki, his co-worker, a barista, insisted it was a good thing, to be happy for Ryoma and Xander. Love was a beautiful thing, after all. But Takumi was unimpressed by the idea. He’d rather work for who he wanted, in their small, personal business, than anything bigger.
He sighed, again, for the umpteenth time as Kiragi squeezed his hand.
“Don’t look so upset, dad,” he said, louder than needed as one would expect of a 7 year old, but with eagerness nonetheless. Takumi couldn’t help but smile. Kiragi was a good kid. He was lucky. “What’s the matter?”
“I’m fine, Kiragi,” he replied, “just a little annoyed.”
“Why?”
Takumi snorted. “Nothing you need to concern yourself with,” he said, giving him a gentle smile to reassure that everything was okay. He was certain Kiragi would have pressed the topic further had they not been closing in on the school, Kiragi practically bouncing out of his grasp and pulling the door open. Takumi would never understand his excitement to get to school, but then again, he had always been more social than Takumi ever was.
They exchanged their usual goodbyes and Kiragi hopped away to join a group of friends, and Takumi wished he could look forward to his day as eagerly as his son.
Takumi entered the bakery- previously just simply Hoshido, now simply Izumo- and was surprised to see he wasn’t the first one there. As a baker, he usually had to be there earlier than anyone else, but there was someone kneading dough on the tables already. A blonde man, flour smudged on his cheek, working on what seemed to be a tomato basil bread. He had obviously already been there for at least an hour and a half, assuming he had already proofed his dough, and Takumi was actually a little annoyed not to be alone. He rolled up the sleeves of his sweater, tied his apron with more anger than he needed to, and washed his hands, not speaking a word to him. Maybe it was childish, he didn’t care, he just wanted to bake his god damn bread and make his paycheck. He didn’t need the idiots from Cafe Nohr to bother him. Certainly not at 6:30 in the morning.
He dried his hands, sighing heavily as he got accustomed to the new, more spacious layout. The kitchen was a lot bigger, flour and yeast containers pushed under prep tables. It retained a lot of how Hoshido looked while incorporating some more modern bits of what he assumed was Cafe Nohr’s old style. It was nice, he had to admit, but he was used to the close quarters and everything else being in place. He couldn’t help feeling just a little upset at the change.
The other man worked quietly beside him, and for that Takumi was grateful for. At least he wouldn’t be too much of a bother, and the bigger kitchen made it easier to share space. Takumi tied his hair up, sparing a glance at the blonde. He looked up at Takumi as he stopped beside him, analyzing with much more concentration than necessary, what the blonde was doing. The silence stretched out between them, until the blonde opened his mouth to speak.
“Are you going to just stand there, or are you going to get to work?” He quirked an eyebrow at Takumi, whose eyes widened in temporary shock, literally unable to process what was just said to him. His shock quickly turned to aggravation.
“Sorry, but just who the hell do you think you are?” Takumi spat back, expecting the same look of shock, but getting just a sly smirk in return.
“I think I’m Leo,” the blonde- Leo said, returning his attention back to his kneading, “nice to meet you, too.” His remark was more sarcastic than Takumi could even process so early in the morning, just settling for blinking at him in silence, not knowing how to move forward from here. He decided he didn’t really have time to argue with this prick, and he did have work to do. Electing to ignore how unfathomably rude Leo was, was probably the best course of action. He enjoyed only a couple more minutes of blissful, yeasty, bread-making peace before Leo spoke up again, his calm voice like nails on a chalkboard to Takumi.
“You’re not even going to introduce yourself? Where are your manners?” He tsked, not even looking up from his pans as he placed dough in each one.
Takumi literally couldn’t believe this guy. “After the first thing you said to me was an insult?” He shot back, turning to Leo, eyes narrow. His hands stilled on the bowl of the mixer he had pulled out, hand gripping the hook like a vice. “You’re insane. You could at least apologize first.”
Leo huffed out a bit of laughter- Takumi was wrong about him not being a bother for sure- and went back to his work. “Testy, I see.” He said under his breath, and it took everything in Takumi not to punch him is his stupid pretty-boy mouth right then and there, rip his dumbass smirk off his face. After all, blood in the bread would be bad for business.
Instead, he shoved his animosity down and acted like an adult, a stark contrast from the literal child standing beside him. Who cared if he was taller. Takumi didn’t.
Just as he was staring into the bowl of the mixer, ingredients coming together and contemplating, perhaps, how hard it would be to get another job if he were to be fired for physical assault, Ryoma walked in. Ryoma, like a godsend, a gift from heaven above, laughing and clapping his fiancee on the back, the other owner of the establishment. Xander, or something. He was taller, broader than Ryoma and blonde like that asshole Leo. Takumi was beginning to think he might have something against blondes.
“Good morning, Takumi, Leo,” Ryoma greeted as he walked into the kitchen, Leo pulling fresh loafs out of the oven.
“Takumi? That’s your name?” Leo said, quirking an eyebrow and setting his pans on the cooling racks. He put his hands on his hips and eyed Takumi, who was avoiding looking at his face, instead electing to ignore him and nod at Ryoma in greeting.
“I see you two have already started work. Have you properly introduced yourselves?”
Takumi clicked his tongue and braided his roll dough. “Yeah, yeah. He’s Leo, makes bread or something, yadda yadda.”
Xander stepped in beside Ryoma, smirking along with Leo. “Nice to see you’ve all been acquainted, then,” he says, letting a hand drop to Ryoma’s back to lead him into the office off of the kitchen. “If you’ll excuse us, we have a few more papers to sign, but keep working. Our grand re-opening is in just a few hours, after all.”
Leo and Takumi both nodded in understanding as the owners stepped out of the kitchen, and Takumi bit back any seething comments he could possibly have thought of as he worked diligently on getting his job done. Fuck it, he wasn’t going to let some idiot blonde ruin his job for him. He didn’t need to see him outside then, and it was rather easy to ignore him. He would live, he thought.
As it turns out, Takumi would live, but not peacefully.
It only took about two more hours before Takumi got a call. The principal of Kiragi’s school, of course. Wonderful. He’s gotten this call before, and he already knew what to expect. He had gotten in a fight, he was sure- and yup, the principal confirmed his fears. Aggravated, he let himself into Ryoma’s office to let him know, before he left to drive down to the school. Honestly, this kid seemed like a lot more trouble than he was worth, sometimes. He knew it wasn’t true, but he was sure Leo’s stupid fucking idiot voice would be calling out to him something or other about leaving the job early, and he couldn’t fucking stand it. He couldn’t stand him already, and it had barely been three hours. Which is why, today, Takumi was actually glad to be called out for an actual reason, instead of leaving due to him being petty.
Okay, maybe Takumi was the child alongside Leo, but like hell he was gonna admit that.
Luckily, or rather, strangely enough, Leo wasn’t even in the kitchen when he grabbed his keys from the employee's lounge. In fact, he’s nowhere to be found. Not to say Takumi was looking, though.
The drive to the school is a short one, and he knows the drill by now. Get rung in by the office, meet the principal, get the details. Kiragi is sitting petulantly in a chair next to a boy he doesn’t recognize with long, curly ringlets when he enters the office, along with some other boys, and Takumi just gives him a look that says we will talk about this later as he is welcomed by the secretary into the principal’s office. She knows him by name. It’s mortifying, but he is in such bliss to be out of the kitchen and away from that pompous asshole that he can’t bring himself to give a shit today.
And, as fate would have it, as he walks into the office, his mood comes crashing down as he is greeted by an irritating mop of blonde hair, pushed back haphazardly with a sleek black headband. He stops dead in his tracks.
“You,” he spits.
Leo turns to him. “Me,” he says, amusedly, not showing the slightest bit of surprise. His stupid smirk is there. Takumi wants to fucking punch him.
The principal- Mikoto, a nice woman, really- holds her hands up and laughs a bit awkwardly, directing both of their attentions to her. Takumi takes a seat next to Leo, grovelling at the close proximity between him and Leo. If his kid had been one of those ones Kiragi had fought with, so help him-
“Good afternoon, you two!” Mikoto interjected, smiling. “I’m sure you’re aware why you’re here…”
“Yes,” Leo said, shooting daggers at Takumi, Takumi shooting them back, “someone was picking on my son?”
“Ah, you’re Forrest’s father. Yes, it seems as though he was being teased by some of the boys in his class-”
Leo’s stare stays pinned on Takumi as he interrupts her, “By this man’s child? How quaint. Like father like son, I suppose.” His voice was so full of malice, and Takumi was fucking seething at this point, willing his fists not to make contact with Leo’s face. Mikoto smiles nervously at the both of them, sensing the tension.
“No, not at all,” she says, disarming them a bit, “actually, Kiragi was the only one standing up for him, it seems…”
And just like that, the venom in Leo’s eyes is gone and replaced with genuine surprise as he gapes at Mikoto. “Really,” is all he can manage, and Takumi is just about as stunned as him. He knows in his heart Kiragi isn’t the kind of kid to ever pick on someone else for kicks, but in the heat of the moment, with Leo staring through him as if he’d fucking killed his dog or something, he couldn’t help but let it slip his mind.
“Really. I think they’re becoming fast friends!” Takumi sits back, taking it in. His son, friends with Leo’s son. It was absolutely heinous. Today was heinous. Mikoto goes on to explain that, while Kiragi was defending his friend, it was still inappropriate and Takumi should take proper action, and he nods as if he is listening but his stare is blank and he is just thinking of how awful it would be to see Leo more than needed, while Leo stares at him as if he is in awe that Kiragi didn’t beat his son up.
When all's said and done, it’s the end of the school day anyway, and Takumi and Leo come out of the office to Kiragi and Forrest- if he remembers correctly- talking animatedly about some game on Kiragi’s DS.
Kiragi smiles up at Takumi as he approaches. “Dad! This is Forrest, he’s my new friend!” He gestures to the boy sitting next to him, who smiles meekly and waves.
“I see,” Takumi replies, bending slightly to come to eye level and giving a slight wave to Forrest. “Nice to meet you,” he says.
Forrest nods and Kiragi laughs aloud, excited to have introduced them. Leo exits the office after a couple more moments speaking to Mikoto, and doesn’t even spare a glance at Takumi or his son. He just bends down to Forrest, asking quietly if he is okay before taking his hand and leaving without so much as a word, Forrest waving goodbye behind him and Kiragi waving frantically back.
Kiragi is beaming when he looks back at Takumi, and the silver haired man just prays, hopes against hope that he won’t say-
“Hey, can Forrest come over for a playdate sometime?”
-that.
Takumi turns the words over in his head while Kiragi looks at him, expectantly. That would certainly mean seeing Leo for at least a second longer than he needed to outside of work, which was an immediate turn off. But, it was for Kiragi…
“Sure,” he said, smiling wryly, and Kiragi’s face lighting up in joy was almost enough to deflect the twist of dread in his gut.
Almost.