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“I still think you should be a chef, man. This is freakin’ awesome!”
It's the third time Haruka has shown up to Sakae's for dinner of his own volition. The first two times were a little awkward, a little stilted, not the same easy camaraderie of the original night. Both of them trying to get a feel for how to act around the other now. Sakae understands he caused quite a stir in the class for calling Haruka by his first name, and for his part Haruka still seems a bit…weirded out? Was that what it was? Unused to the familiarity, definitely. He’s yet to use Sakae’s first name, but that might change with time. He doesn’t use his other friend’s first names either. At least he's finally stopped glancing around nervously every time he walks through the door like he's worried some angry auntie will burst out from a hidden corner and chase him off with a broom for daring to occupy the space.
“It's nothing special.” Sakae says.
It was “Grandma's Secret Recipe Stir-fry”, which had been one of his favourite meals as a kid. When he'd grown more (after his mother passed away and he’d started helping his grandmother more with the housework) he'd discovered it was really just her way of trying to use up all the leftovers and loose vegetables before she went shopping again but that didn't change the facts, didn’t change the fun little secret they shared between them. It was still one of his favourites. It was his now.
Here Sakae-chan, you can help me get everything ready. Hold the knife like this. Good job!
Sakae's chest grows tight. He breathes in deep through his nose. Allows it to wash over him.
“A kid could make this.” He continues, smug, and then struggles not to choke on his next bite as Haruka bristles and hisses.
“S-shut up! I can make food!”
The way he puffed up really was just like a startled cat. Loud as any of them, too.
Sakae has to keep poking. It's too good not to, “Oh yeah? What can you make?”
Every wall in the apartment suddenly seems to be the most interesting thing in the world by the way Haruka's eyes dart around, “....Ramen.”
From a pre-made package most likely, and maybe even only a little burned.The laugh bubbles up unbidden. Haruka's face goes red.
“Don’t laugh! Not everyone's good at everything!”
The knot in Sakae's chest loosens.
“Sorry, sorry.” he says as he digs into his own meal. He doesn’t feel particularly apologetic at all.
“No you're not.” Haruka huffs before going back to shoveling food into his mouth. He always eats like someone might try to steal it from him if he isn’t fast enough.
“You'll make yourself sick like that,” Sakae chides without thinking, and Haruka grumbles around a mouthful but adopts a more sedate pace anyway. Sakae looks down at Haruka's nearly empty plate, and reaches across to prod an untouched broccoli crown toward him, “and make sure you eat everything. You shouldn't waste food.”
There comes another annoyed growl but Haruka still snatches up the broccoli anyway, scrunching his nose up as he chews.
Sakae will have to ask Kotoha if she can give him advice on some other ways to prepare vegetables.
They both go back to eating in silence.
It's starting to get dark early again. The syrupy heat and endless days of summer were giving way to the long, cold nights of autumn, but here in the kitchen with the two of them it was comfortable and warm.
Sakae can see the lights of other homes through the window; people alone, visiting friends. Families. One of the upstairs neighbours recently welcomed a new baby, and through the cracked open window he can vaguely hear the little thing fussing away as one harried parent tried to soothe it to sleep while also wrangling their oldest child.
Haruka leans back in his chair with a satisfied sigh, his eyes falling shut. His plate is completely empty, everything polished off.
“Good?” Sakae asks.
Haruka cracks his left eye open. The corner of his mouth curls up.
“Almost as good as Kotoha.”
Why that little…
Sakae sets his chopsticks down and folds his arms across his chest. Two could play that game, “Oh yeah? I thought you weren't going to compare us.”
Haruka splutters, his face flickering between several different emotions in the span of seconds. Sakae goes in for the kill.
“Keep saying stuff like that and see if I cook for you again.”
Haruka looks like he's just been slapped. He's red all the way from his neck to the top of his head. His grin from before turns into a pout that's almost cute.
“It's just a joke, sheesh…” he mumbles sheepishly, scratching at his ear and flicking his eyes between Sakae's and some random point over his shoulder.
Sakae sighs like he's being terribly put upon, “I guess I can keep making you dinner,” he offers, magnanimously, “I don't think your class would be very happy if I let their captain starve.”
Haruka mutters something that sounds like “They'll survive.” which Sakae generously decides not to press. That's something for another time. Tonight is just for a shared meal and quiet conversation.
Haruka scratches his ear again, then his temple. Sakae narrows his eyes.
He's only just noticing it now, but there's a dark mark on the tip of Haruka's ear. It looks like a healing scab.
“What's wrong with your ear?” He asks and Haruka blinks at him, obviously taken aback.
“Huh? Oh, this.”
He turns his head fully to the side and now Sakae can see it clearly: a raised welt and an angry looking cut just above his ear, easily visible beneath his pale hair.
Head injuries could be pretty nasty but Haruka didn't seem any worse for wear, luckily. He’s acting just like he always does, too loud and too kind. Something strange coils behind Sakae's ribs. He swallows.
“Don’t pick at it,” he says, instead of the thousands of other words all building up behind his teeth. None of them tasted right.
“It's itchy,” Haruka gripes, but he drops his hand into his lap either way.
Sakae stares at Haruka. Haruka stares back at Sakae. A dog barks somewhere outside, its owner's soft voice soothing it a second later.
“What happened?” Sakae asks finally. He hadn't heard of any major fights recently, though that could easily be attributed to everyone being on alert and most issues fizzling out before they had a chance to really take off.
“Oh, uh. Nothin’ really.” Haruka seems shocked that he's even worried about it, “We had to break up a fight yesterday. Nirei didn't recognize any of the guys so I dunno who they were. Some other gang trying to start shit I guess. One of ‘em threw a rock at me when he was leaving.”
He says the last part so matter of factly, the same tone of voice you'd use if someone asked you the time of day. Yeah, it's 8:19 p.m. and some asshole threw a rock at my head. Whatever. No trouble at all.
Sakae's hands tense, fingers curling into fists all on their own.
Haruka's eyes track the movement.
“It isn’t that bad. I've had worse.” He waves dismissively and tries to keep his voice light, eyes now darting nervously around. He really is too nice.
“You should still get it looked at.”
You couldn’t be too careful.
“Yeah, yeah,” Haruka sounds exasperated but he’s clearly thinking about it. His eyes finally settle on the table between them, “Hey! You were yappin’ at me about not wasting food and you’ve still got half your plate!”
Oh, right.
They drop the subject in mutual, silent agreement. Haruka props his head in one hand, leaning his elbow on the table as he watches Sakae finish his meal. The conversation turns to the mundane; finding a little girl who had gotten herself lost the other day, patrolling the town, the usual. One of the store owners in the market had gotten it into his head to have a community mural done on the side of his shop and had roped a bunch of them into helping him prime the wall. Who knew when or if it would even get done, but wasn’t it fun to speculate how it would turn out? The results of their training, the most interesting sparring matches and the most anticipated matchups; Sakae is certain no one is actually placing bets on the outcomes of any of those fights but he had seen Anzai’s group sharing conspiratorial whispers from time to time, before Kunugi hustled over to bark at them about sharing with the rest of the class if they had something to say.
He and Haruka haven’t gotten the chance to train together yet, but maybe that would change soon. Or maybe it was best to save it, to wait until it was just the two of them again. The thought sets Sakae’s heart racing. He thinks they can skip falling into the river the next time, though.
Haruka is starting to yawn by the time Sakae finishes his food. It was a little later than their shared dinners normally ran so that was no surprise. Both of them had been a little thrown off by Sakae’s comment, the routine they had settled into momentarily disrupted.
Their get-togethers are starting to feel natural now, and it eases something deep in Sakae’s core. Haruka shows up (anxious), they talk while Sakae is cooking (relaxing), then talk more while they eat (relaxed), then Haruka helps him with the dishes before going home.
The first time Haruka had stayed for dinner Sakae had simply tossed him a dish towel wordlessly after tidying up the table. It landing on his head was a complete accident; Sakae obviously having misjudged the height at which to throw it. The indignant squawk Haruka had let out while he tried to wrestle the towel off his face was enough to have Sakae choking on his laughter. It shouldn’t have been that funny, but watching Haruka flail helplessly for a full ten seconds was just too good of an image not to savour.
“You tryin’ to kill me or something?” Haruka had grumbled as he squeezed in next to Sakae at the little sink, but he still accepted the first dripping bowl that Sakae handed him, drying it vigorously.
Now Sakae stands from the table first and collects their plates and utensils while Haruka stifles another massive yawn with the back of one hand, his chair rocking back dangerously as he stretches his other arm above his head. They’ll finish this up quickly and send Haruka on his way. Sakae briefly considers offering for Haruka to stay over so he didn’t have to go home in the now fully fallen night, but. He’s feeling kind enough not to put Haruka in the spotlight again by having them arrive at school together the next day. No, he’ll save that for the next time.
The next time….
Was Sakae being a little greedy, thinking that far ahead? But it was better to plan than to be caught unprepared wasn’t it? Start properly buying enough food for two people again instead of just for himself. Start thinking of new recipes and new things to try. It will be good for Sakae to practice new things, too, make sure his cooking is up to snuff for whenever the time comes that he gets to see his grandmother again.
Hm. He knows Haruka likes omelette rice, and he’s pretty confident in his skill with making it after Kotoha’s lesson, but he doesn’t just want to make the same thing all the time. He’s certain Haruka wouldn’t complain about it at all, hell the guy just seemed happy to have any sort of food in front of him to start with. For Sakae’s own sake though he wants to have some variety, to know he can provide for someone. It just…felt right.
“Hey, Haruka?” he asks as he piles their dishes in the sink.
His semi-innocent probe doesn’t get an immediate response but that’s alright. Haruka still tends to freeze up when Sakae addresses him by name. It’s not the first time and it won’t be the last. Sakae presses on.
“Anything else you want to try?”
Still nothing. Alright, try a different approach.
“You can’t seriously tell me that you just live off of snacks and the omelette rice from Pothos. I mean I get having a favourite food, but come on.”
…Nothing again, not even the creak of a chair or the rustle of fabric. Sakae is starting to feel a little worried.
“...Haruka?”
There’s a faint noise from behind him, something that sounds almost like a soft exhale.
Huh?
Sakae turns around.
Haruka has his elbow on the table again, this time propping his head up as he rests his right cheek on his curled fist. Both of his eyes are shut.
As Sakae watches he takes another snuffling breath in through his nose and then out through his gently parted lips. He’s sound asleep.
Sakae watches him for a few moments. He’s not sure what he’s waiting to see. Would it be better if Haruka woke up on his own and found him staring like a creep, or should Sakae try to gently rouse him before that? He doesn’t think Haruka would much appreciate being left to sleep sitting straight up in a chair where his head might slip any moment, sending him to faceplant on the table. Then again, if he was tired enough to fall asleep while just sitting there he obviously needed the rest.
Maybe Sakae should just leave him for now.
He turns back to the sink and reaches for the tap. Everything in with soap and hot water, wash, rinse, set to dry.
The rote chore is comforting in a way, even without the extra pair of hands to speed the process along. The beats of silence between the clattering of ceramic and drizzling water feel less oppressive when set to the backdrop of quiet snores and the occasional nonsensical mumble.
He really should wake Haruka up soon so he can make it home at a reasonable time and still make it to school the next day, but. Maybe just this once he can be a little selfish.
Yeah. Sakae thinks he can get used to this.