Chapter Text
Ryousuke was hiding something from him.
Kuramochi was sure of it. Nearly two weeks ago, Ryousuke started leaving their dorm almost every afternoon after their classes were finished. He never revealed where he was going, always merely stating that he was just “going out." Whenever Kuramochi tried to get him to elaborate, Ryousuke just sent him his signature chilling, unreadable smile and declared, "it's none of your business."
It didn't bother him all that much at first, but the longer Ryousuke's suspicious behavior went on, the more agonizingly curious Kuramochi became.
The final straw that broke the dam holding him back from going full detective-mode appeared yesterday. He had been talking to Haruichi after their art class let out, when the younger Kominato began acting equally suspicious.
"Ugh, that long ass project is finally over. Huge weight off my shoulders." Kuramochi groaned as they walked out of the campus' art building.
"I know, right?" The smaller boy replied, a soft smile on his face.
"We deserve a little break to celebrate! You wanna come over and play some fighting games?"
Haruichi's smile turned apologetic. "I can't, sorry. I have to meet Aniki at work."
"Work? You two got a job together?"
"Uh, we, um," Haruichi stopped dead in his tracks and began to stutter, his face turning almost crimson. Kuramochi raised his eyebrow at the odd behavior, waiting for him to finish.
"I- actually, just forget what I said. I have to go, bye, You-san!" Haruichi suddenly took off running in a random direction, waving at Kuramochi while obviously still flustered.
Kuramochi just stood there stunned, gaze lingering in the direction Haruichi had run off to. What the heck just happened?
He would have let it go if Haruichi had said to forget it more calmly (okay, he definitely would've tried to pry some info out of the younger Kominato that he hadn't been able to get from the older, but he would've backed off eventually), but the way he quite literally FLED from Kuramochi made him determined to find out what was going on with these brothers.
And that was how Kuramochi found himself in his current situation, trailing behind Ryousuke on the way to his mystery job and desperately trying not to look like a creepy stalker.
When Ryousuke left their dorm at the usual time, Kuramochi had tried to act as natural as possible. After waiting a minute, he left the building as well, and followed Ryousuke at a safe distance so as to not be spotted along the way.
'This isn't weird this isn't weird this isn't weird-' Kuramochi chanted a mantra in his head in order to shake off the feeling that he was acting like a creep. He wasn't sure exactly why he was so concerned about where his roommate was working. It wasn't like he needed to know what Ryousuke was doing at all times or anything. He was just curious as to what could be so bad that he would try so hard to hide it from him, after all the trust they'd built between them over the years.
To keep himself occupied during his trek, Kuramochi looked around at all the buildings and shops lining the streets. He was vaguely familiar with the area, seeing as it wasn't too far from their university, but he didn’t find himself on this particular street very often. He racked his brain trying to guess where their destination could be. The pizza joint? Or the arcade? But neither of those are worth hiding, are they?
After a while, Ryousuke finally walked into a shop on the right side of the street. Kuramochi picked up his pace and stared at the storefront, trying to get a better look.
A loud neon green sign displayed the words "MISTER SMOOTHIE!" as if screaming the name of the place at anyone who happened to pass it. The name was contained in a speech bubble of the same color, attached to a logo of a cartoon cow whose mouth was in an O shape. The signs on the windows advertised various special flavors, including some abnormally bright pink creation called “Flamingo Fiesta.” What does a drink with that kind of name even taste like?
Peering past the flyers and into the shop, Kuramochi could immediately see two heads of pink hair at the registers. He figured he should stop stalling and just enter.
A little bell rang as he opened the door and strode in. Looking more closely at his classmates behind the counter, he could now see that the Kominato brothers were wearing caps in the shape of cow heads as part of their uniforms, complete with horns and all.
Oh, this was too good.
Haruichi noticed him come in almost immediately. His eyes widened impossibly and his face turned a deep shade of red. Kuramochi almost burst out laughing at just how fearful he looked.
Ryousuke hadn't noticed him yet, since he was handing over another customer's order. When the woman walked to a table, Kuramochi finally had a full view of his roommate. As they made eye contact, the fake cheerfulness immediately fell from Ryousuke's face, the scripted greeting he was surely about to utter dying before getting past his lips.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" Ah. What a warm welcome.
Kuramochi had a shit-eating grin on his face since he walked in, and it only grew bigger at his roommate's words. "Honestly Ryou-san, I'm not sure what I was expecting when I figured out you were hiding something from me, but it definitely wasn't this! How on earth did they convince you of all people to put on that stupid hat?"
"How did you even find this place?" Ryousuke demanded.
"Well, I, uhh…" Kuramochi trailed off, unwilling to admit the truth and unable to think of a convincing lie fast enough.
"You were still at the dorm when I left. Did you follow me here or something?"
"N-no!" Kuramochi averted his eyes, trying to hide what he'd done. But one peek back at Ryousuke's half-disgusted, half-amused smirk told him that he already knew the truth.
"Gross. I didn't know I was roommates with such a creep~," Ryousuke teased him without mercy.
Kuramochi's cheeks warmed up. "W-whatever! It doesn't matter how I got here! What matters is that you two are working front and center in a place as embarrassing as this!"
Haruichi sighed, finally speaking up for the first time. "We both needed work, and almost no other place in the area was hiring."
"We don't need to explain ourselves to you. Now, order something or get out," Ryousuke insisted icily.
"KOMINATOS!"
Before Kuramochi could make a comeback, a loud voice boomed from behind the counter, startling the three college students. A scruffy-looking man walked over and stood behind the pink-haired brothers. Kuramochi guessed that he was the manager.
"Why are you two just standing around dilly-dallying with the orders as if we have all the time in the world?!" the manager yelled. He then proceeded to look Kuramochi up and down suspiciously. "This guy one of your friends or something?"
"Unfortunately," Ryousuke chimed. Kuramochi squawked indignantly.
"Well, hurry up and take your friend's order! We don't have all day!"
Haruichi stepped in. "Right away, sir!" He turned to Kuramochi with a bright (though still partially forced) smile, and said, "welcome to Mister Smoothie! We'll be your elixir mixers today!"
Kuramochi snorted. "Pfft, elixir mixers."
Haruichi's cheeks turned pink and Ryousuke glared at him.
"Alright, alright. Let me get a look at the menu," Kuramochi said, scanning the laminated pages on the counter. Seemingly satisfied, the manager gave a curt nod and returned to one of the back rooms of the store.
Although they served a few things other than smoothies, Kuramochi read through the various flavors of the shop's namesake specialty, trying to figure out what might taste good. The further down the list he read, the weirder the flavors got. There were normal fruit flavors, but also a bunch with elaborate, confusing names.
"Some of these drinks sound weird as shit! Like, what the hell is a 'Twist & Shout?'"
"Don't!" Kuramochi flinched as both brothers unexpectedly raised their voices at him, strangely nervous expressions on their faces. He raised an eyebrow, confused.
"What's the problem?"
"Don't get that one," Ryousuke commanded flatly in lieu of an answer to the questions, his face schooled back into a neutral expression.
Kuramochi remained just as confused. "Why, is there something wrong with it or something?"
Haruichi sighed again. "Look, You-san. Actually, that particular drink comes with...a sing-along. It's really silly and embarrassing, so please just don't order that one!"
Kuramochi's eyes widened at this information. Then, a devious grin that one would think originated from hell itself spread across his face.
"Welp, I've made my decision! I would like to order the 'Twist & Shout,' please!" Kuramochi exclaimed, his delight at the Kominatos' misery all too obvious.
Both of their faces fell. Ryousuke fixed him with a look that said you'll pay for this as the brothers got into position for the sing-along.
Haruichi cupped his hands around his mouth and called out, "did somebody say 'Twist & Shout?'"
Priceless.
Kuramochi then proceeded to lose his shit as for the next thirty seconds, each Kominato sang the corniest, most ridiculous jingle he'd ever heard in his life. There were even funny little dance moves to go along with it.
When it was over, Kuramochi leaned against the counter, laughing hysterically. The brothers just looked at him with displeased expressions.
"I-I'll go make your drink…" Haruichi said awkwardly.
Kuramochi couldn't answer since he was still laughing. Once his laughter died down, he addressed Ryousuke. "Man, I don't think anything on the menu could ever possibly be as much of a treat as that was," he breathed out, wiping a single tear of mirth with his finger.
"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself so much," Ryousuke replied sarcastically as he rang up the order.
Haruichi returned and handed Kuramochi his drink. "Here you go."
"Thanks." He grabbed a neon (he guessed that pretty much everything in the shop was obnoxiously bright) pink bendy straw from the basket next to the register, handed over the money he owed, and turned to make his exit. "Later!" he said with a small two-fingered salute.
"See you tomorrow, You-san."
"Never come back~!"
Kuramochi chuckled at the difference between their replies. Needless to say, he would definitely be returning to Mister Smoothie.
Finally, he walked out the door of the shop and headed back in the direction of their dorms. On his way down the street, he poked the straw into his cup and took a sip of his drink. His face immediately scrunched up. The “Twist & Shout” was a perplexing mix of several different flavors that definitely did not complement each other, but somehow didn't clash completely either. Kuramochi shrugged. It honestly wasn't all that bad.
-
When Ryousuke got home from work that evening, Kuramochi was watching videos on his phone. He immediately grinned teasingly at his roommate.
Ryousuke responded with a powered-up chop to the head.