Chapter Text
‘You’re going to make me go bankrupt’ Kojiro murmured, pouring his last bottle of red wine into a glass.
‘You can always kick me out’ Kaoru gazed at him.
Kojiro rolled his eyes and set the bottle on the table. He was about to open his mouth and win the whole argument with a genius comeback when his phone rang. He took it out of his pocket and paused.
‘It’s Langa’
‘Langa?’ Kaoru frowned ‘Why would he call you?’
Usually, when the boys needed something Reki or Miya would contact him. Langa was the less talkative one. That was the main reason why he didn’t ignore the call.
‘Hey Langa’
‘Joe, I think…’ Langa was breathing heavily ‘Reki, he…’
‘Hey, hey, breathe’ Kojiro shot a disoriented look at Kaoru, who just shrugged ‘Can you calm down and tell me what happened?’
‘Reki needs help’ Langa panted ‘Now’
Something in Langa’s voice reminded Kojiro of a certain teenager disturbed from studying in the middle of the night by subtle knocking on his door. Maybe it was the fear. Maybe it was love.
‘Where are you?’ he asked, looking for his car keys.
He heard jiggling and turned around to see Kaoru holding his keys. He tossed them to Kojiro.
‘Okay. I’ll be there shortly. Hang on’ he hung up and turned to his boyfriend ‘I’ll be right back’
‘I’m going with you’ Kaoru frowned.
‘Kaoru, please, now is not the time to fight’
‘Exactly. I’m going with you’ his expression softened and he grabbed his boyfriend's hand ‘These kids have a tendency to get into dangerous situations. It will be easier to handle this together’
‘Fine’ Kojiro gave up.
Kojiro was so glad Kaoru went with him. He picked up Reki’s box from the back of his car and opened the door to his and Kaoru’s apartment with his foot. He put the box next to an identical one. He quickly closed and locked the car and went inside, taking off his shoes. He heard Kaoru’s steady voice from the kitchen, and he followed it. Kaoru and Reki were drinking tea and the teenager seemed very engaged in examining the cup he was holding.
‘That was the last one’ Kojiro leaned on the counter ‘Need help with unpacking?’
‘No, I’ll handle it’ Reki set the cup aside and scratched his neck ‘Thanks’
He quickly walked out. Kojiro heard some boxes shuffle, a few steps and a door opening.
‘You want some tea?’ Kaoru raised an empty cup in his direction.
‘Your fancy princess tea?’ he smirked ‘Sure’
They fell silent for a second, listening to Reki moving more boxes and liquid dripping down and hitting porcelain walls. Kojiro looked into his boyfriend's eyes. The usually confident look in golden irises now had drips of exhaustion and worry.
‘You should rest’ he said, taking the cup ‘I’ll handle it’
Kaoru shot him an annoyed look but hesitated instead of snapping back.
‘Fine’ he surpassed a yawn and went out of the kitchen.
Kojiro swirled the liquid in his cup and closed his eyes, listening to muffled commotion coming from the spare room. After a while he opened his eyes and stared at the dining table in front of him. A stack of papers caught his eye. It was some boring finance stuff that Kaoru usually handled for him. Kojiro glanced at the cup in his hand.
‘Maybe you’ll actually be useful’ he thought, sitting down and grabbing the paperwork.
‘Hey Joe’ Reki’s voice brought Kojiro’s attention back to his surroundings.
The empty tea cup was left on the table, next to a still tall stack of documents and forms, despite Kojiro’s best attempts to work fast. He dropped the sheet he was working on and it slowly descended to the table, while he stretched his arms.
‘Hi Reki’ he finally looked at the teenager ‘Need anything?’
‘Well… I ate in the hospital for the last two days’ Reki shot Kojiro a look ‘And you know that hospital food isn’t the best, to put it lightly…’
‘Do you want dinner?’ the adult sighed and stood up.
‘Yeah’ Reki smiled ‘I trust you Joe. Bye!’
And just like that Kojiro was alone in the kitchen again. He didn’t mind it though. He grabbed all the ingredients and started preparing the meal. The steps, which he had repeated countless times over years, became muscle memory and even though their kitchen was different than in Sia and in his school, his hands were moving in the same way. The smell from the sauce and boiling pasta started spreading to other rooms in the house and Reki came back to the kitchen.
‘That smells so good’ the teenager took a deep breath ‘When are you going to be done?’
‘In a second’ Kojiro replied, stirring the sauce for the last time.
Reki sat down and watched Joe work, tapping his fingers on the table. Kojiro grabbed a plate and quickly displayed the food. He grabbed the dish and put it in front of Reki.
‘What is that?’ Reki took a fork and poked the pasta with it.
‘Spaghetti bolognese’ Kojiro grabbed two more plates.
Reki shrugged and took a bit of the dish into his mouth. He let out a pleased hum with his mouth full. Kojiro smiled and started cleaning the kitchen, letting his thoughts drift. When he turned around, Reki was already gone. Kojiro took the dirty plate and put it in the dishwasher. He set some pasta aside for him and Kaoru and went to check up on his boyfriend. He was supposed to go to their bedroom but stopped when he heard voices coming from their spare room. Kojiro hesitated, but then turned back to the kitchen.
‘I’ll eat alone today’ he thought, smiling lightly, despite the pinch of worry in his heart ‘They’ll be fine’