Chapter Text
Kojiro Nanjo is a man of many talents. Cooking, sex, skateboarding, sex-he has truly tried his best over the past few years to become the full package. And tonight, he thinks he’s finally succeeded.
“Joe! Joe! Joe! Joe!” the crowd chants as Kojiro crosses over the finish line just before Kaoru-he beat him by an entire foot at the least, there’s no contest, and he lets out a cry, doing a backside kick turn to hold up two middle fingers as he faces Kaoru.
“You see that, four eyes!” Kojiro yells, and the glare that Kaoru is giving him is so intense that he’s pretty sure he can see smoke coming out of his balaclava. “I won! You owe me!”
“Barely!” Kaoru fires back as he steps off of his board and tucks it under his arm in one swift movement, without even stopping-which is moderately attractive, objectively, but that’s neither here nor there. “And I don’t remember us agreeing to a wager.”
“You tryna back out now?!” Kojiro retorts, and a small crowd forms around the both of them as Kaoru approaches him. “I finally beat your robo board, so you owe me-that's the rules.”
“Calling Carla a ‘robo board’ won’t incentivize me to agree to your terms,” Kaoru huffs, looking up at Kojiro. Under the LED lights of the factory, Kojiro swears that Kaoru’s eyes look even more gold, glinting with anger, his eyelashes casting shadows across his cheeks. Of course, Kojiro doesn’t tell Kaoru that, mostly because he would never hear the end of it, especially at S, where gossip spreads like wildfire.
The last thing Kojiro would ever want would be for people to get the wrong idea and think that the two of them were dating or something. No, there’s no way Kojiro would want to date a lame guy like Kaoru, someone who has a robot girlfriend who sings him to sleep every night, and probably wears a matching silk pajama set and an eye mask, and probably carefully ties his hair back every night before bed, his lithe fingers pulling the soft pink strands away from the back of his neck before bundling them together, a plush bottom lip caught between his teeth, his shirt riding up slightly as he yawns, revealing the soft skin of his stomach-
Why would anybody want to date someone like that? How lame.
“I don’t have to incite you or whatever! We had a deal,” Kojiro insists, because he knows Kaoru is stubborn as hell, but if he pushes hard enough, Kaoru will eventually come to his senses.
“The word is incentivize. Incentivize. Do you even know what that means?”
“Of course I do! I got a better grade in grammar class than you!”
“In the sixth grade!!”
“Doesn’t matter! Anyway, I won, so you have to do whatever I want.”
“And what is it that you want, hm?” Kaoru asks softly, so soft that the crowd probably can’t hear. He takes a step closer, so close now that they’re practically chest to chest, so close that Kojiro can see the small wisps of hair that have fallen out of Kaoru’s high ponytail during the beef and now frame his face, strands that Kojiro suddenly wants to run his fingers through, to pull at-just out of curiosity, of course. “Don’t hurt yourself thinking too hard about it, idiot.”
“You’re meaner than usual tonight,” Kojiro huffs. “Why don’t you…”
Wait. Kojiro might be onto something here.
“I don’t like the look in your eyes,” Kaoru is saying, but Kojiro is only half listening, because he’s pretty sure he’s come up with the best possible way to rub his victory in Kaoru’s face.
“You have to be nice to me,” Kojiro says, crossing his arms over his chest. Kaoru raises an eyebrow in confusion, ignoring the crowd as they start to laugh and jeer at Kojiro’s declaration.
“Excuse me?”
“I won, so you have to be nice to me from now on,” Kojiro clarifies, and the look of shock on Kaoru’s face is priceless-if it were any other person, Kojiro would think he looks cute, but that’s unrelated-his eyes widening as he takes in Kojiro’s words.
“For how long,” Kaoru asks gravely.
“A month.”
“That's unrealistic.”
“Don’t care,” Kojiro grins-to be perfectly honest, he’s pretty proud of himself for coming up with this idea. For starters, he knows that there’s no way Kaoru will make it the entire month without snapping at Kojiro. Surely an unconscious insult will slip through eventually, or he’ll give Kojiro one of his signature roundhouse kicks that’ll sting for the rest of the day (that doesn't sound too bad to Kojiro, actually). That way, Kojiro will have not only beaten Kaoru in a beef, which he hasn’t been able to do since Kaoru built Carla, but he’ll also get to annoy Kaoru incessantly for the next few weeks, which will most likely feel better than winning a dozen beefs combined. It’s a win-win for Kojiro, really. “I already decided, princess. For the next month, you’re at my beck and call.”
“...What are your terms?” Kaoru asks, finally relenting, like Kojiro knew he would-he’s never been one to back down from a bet.
“Lets see…No insults or name calling allowed. And you gotta do nice shit for me too. At least one nice thing a day, so no hiding from me for a month, that doesn’t count.”
“What do you mean, ‘nice shit?’” Kaoru says, baffled. The fact that Kaoru seems taken aback by the thought of doing something nice to Kojiro is only proving the point, in Kojiro’s humble opinion. Kaoru won’t last a week, Kojiro is sure of it.
“That’s for you to figure out. We got a deal?” Kojiro asks, holding out his hand for Kaoru to shake. Kaoru stares at the hand for a long moment, as if he’s considering whether or not it’s worth making a break for the exit and never setting foot at S again, before he takes Kojiro’s hand, shaking it firmly.
“Deal,” Kaoru says through gritted teeth, and the crowd collectively loses their shit.
“Cherry’s gonna be Joe’s mommy for the month!” someone from the crowd yells out as the laughing and jeering grows in intensity.
“Cherry’s gonna be all like ‘Joe, I knit you a sweater, don’t want you to get cold!’” someone else shouts-the tips of Kaoru’s ears are red now, and he huffs, dramatically turning his head to the side so he doesn’t have to look at Kojiro anymore.
Kojiro’s sure it must have been his imagination, but Kaoru’s eyes had seemed to widen on the word ‘mommy,’ his flush spreading to the high of his cheekbones just barely visible over his balaclava.
Nope. Definitely imagining things.
***
Kaoru doesn’t say anything to Kojiro on the drive back. He has technically held up his part of the bargain so far, offering to drive and turning on Kojiro’s seat warmer so he doesn’t get too cold, but other than that, he’s been unrealistically quiet.
Kojiro wonders if he broke Kaoru or something-he hadn't realized that the concept of being kind to Kojiro would have caused this much of a internal crisis to form within Kaoru-his fingers are firmly gripping the wheel, his eyes never looking anywhere except straight ahead, his teeth worrying his bottom lip, lost in thought.
“You okay over there?” Kojiro asks, smug, and Kaoru jolts slightly, as if the sound of Kojiro’s voice has pulled him back down to earth. He pauses for a long moment, so long that Kojiro isn’t sure he’s going to respond at all, until he finally does, his voice strained.
“Yes. I’m fine. How are you.” Kaoru reponds, his voice stilted. It’s relatively dark in the car, but Kojiro’s pretty sure he saw just Kaoru’s eye twitch.
“I’m doing great. Just beat this guy in a beef, not sure if you know him. Usually wears nerd glasses.”
“Congratulations.” Kaoru says, and his voice is laced with venom-Kojiro probably should have specified that malicious intent, even if it’s only implied, technically counts as not nice behavior, but he’ll let it slide for now.
“Why thank you,” Kojiro responds, leaning back in his seat while Kaoru drives. He could get used to this, he thinks-getting driven around, and relentlessly annoying Kaoru until he finally snaps and calls off their agreement. It’s entertaining at least, the way Kaoru’s lips are pressed firmly together, as if he has to physically restrain himself from saying something mean, his fingers white knuckled from their grip on the wheel as he drives. Actually, Kojiro was being generous when he said Kaoru would last a week-he’s thinking three days might be a little more accurate.
“…You’re welcome.”
“It’s so nice to have a friend who’s nice. I’m having a really nice time-”
“Kojiro,” Kaoru says suddenly, cutting Kojiro off, “I will follow the rules of our agreement. However, I want to do this on my own terms. In my own way. Is that fair?”
“Uh-yeah…” Kojiro replies, confused-Kaoru seems serious, and he has that look on his face that he gets when he’s plotting something, like he’s weighing the different approaches he could take to achieve his goals before planning his attack. Kojiro doesn’t like that look, because usually it spells trouble for him, like the time that Kaoru put whipped cream in the corner of Kojiro’s gym bag so that he’d get it all over his hand when he went fishing in there for his earphones right before lifting weights. The look on his spotter’s face when he saw Kojiro’s sticky palms still haunts him to this day. “That’s fair.”
“Good,” Kaoru sighs, as if relieved, as he parks right outside Kojiro’s flat. Kojiro figures he’s put Kaoru through enough stress for one night, and so he quickly climbs out of the car, figuring he can bother Kaoru some more tomorrow. He’s got to think of some favors to ask Kaoru to really make him squirm. Kojiro briefly considers asking Kaoru to borrow Carla for a week or something, but he wants to make it to work tomorrow in one piece, so he thinks better of it.
Kaoru gets out of the car too after a moment, as if the very act pains him, making his way over to Kojiro’s side until they’re both standing facing each other, right outside Kojiro’s flat. Kaoru is giving him that strange look again, the one that Kojiro isn’t sure how to decipher, and he raises his hand up before curling two fingers in a come hither motion that cases Kojiro’s toes to curl inside his shoes for reasons that he doesn’t really want to unpack at the moment.
“Come here.”
“Why?”
“Just come,” Kaoru insists, and Kojiro takes a step towards Kaoru, reluctant.
The last thing Kojiro is expecting is for Kaoru to hug him.
Kaoru closes the gap between them, wrapping his arms around Kojiro’s bare waist, under his jacket, his body pressing firmly against Kojiro’s as they embrace. Kojiro is frozen, because he’s not sure what exactly is happening, because he’s sure that Kaoru must be able to feel Kojiro’s heart hammering loudly in his chest as the arms around his waist tighten, grounding him.
“Relax,” Kaoru says softly, lifting up on his toes so he can press his mouth against Kojiro’s ear to whisper it to him, and Kojiro can’t help it-he melts, his head resting in the crook of Kaoru’s neck, breathing him in-he smells like sweat and salt and something uniquely Kaoru, something subtle and sweet under the surface.
Kaoru pulls away, and it’s too soon, too much for Kojiro to process-he’s pretty sure the last time Kaoru had hugged him was when he had come back from Italy, and he had forgotten the feeling of Kaoru’s arms around him, the heat of his breath on Kojiro’s skin, all encompassing.
“I am assuming that counts as ‘nice shit’ for today?” Kaoru says as he makes his way back to the car, nonchalant, as if he hasn’t sent Kojiro reeling with a brief hug and a few well placed words.
“Uh…Yeah…”
“I won’t be able to drive you to work tomorrow, but a ride share will be waiting for you outside, so don’t be late. I’ll pay for it of course.”
“Okay.”
“And cut your hair. It’s getting a little long,” Kaoru adds before ducking his head as he gets back into the car. “Goodnight.”
Kojiro stands outside his flat for a while, long after Kaoru has driven off, his mouth still hanging open slightly from shock.
“…Shit.”
***
As promised, there’s a car waiting outside for Kojiro when he finally manages to pull himself out of bed in the morning. He didn’t sleep well at all last night, too distracted by the memory of Kaoru whispering in his ear, and his fingers tangled in Kojiro’s hair.
However, Kojiro decides to count last night as a brief misstep, a fluke, really, and not an indication of how the rest of the month will go in the slightest. Kojiro knows what Kaoru is trying to do. He’s trying to take control of this situation somehow, but Kojiro isn’t gonna let him, not on his watch. Kaoru is the one that’s supposed to be all flustered and confused by all this, not Kojiro.
Kojiro spends the majority of his morning at Sia la Luce thinking of ways to get Kaoru back, to crack his perfect facade, make him squirm a little bit. Maybe he’ll ask Kaoru to go to the gym with him, and spot him or something-as long as he makes sure to keep Kaoru away from any whipped cream cans or similar white sticky substances. Or maybe he’ll have to borrow Carla after all, though that would be more of a punishment for Kojiro than it would be for Kaoru, in his opinion.
The lunch rush picks up, causing Kojiro to forget about his scheming for a little while, too focused on making sure that dishes go out smoothly, visiting tables every so often and charming the regulars.
By late afternoon, Kojiro can already feel fatigue start to set in, his feet aching slightly after being on his feet all day. He really shouldn’t have gone to S when he knew it would be busy at the restaurant the next day, but winning against Kaoru takes precedence over other, not as important things, like ‘getting enough sleep’ or ‘eating during his shift.’
A text from Kaoru snaps Kojiro out of his stupor, a simple 'come outside' that’s only slightly ominous. If Kaoru wanted to bother Kojiro at work then he could have just come in unannounced like he always does. Maybe he’s already planning on backing out of their agreement after less than a day-Kojiro’s never gonna let Kaoru hear the end of it if that’s the case.
Kojiro lets his sous chef know he’s taking a ten before slipping out of the restaurant, spotting Kaoru sitting at a nearby bench that’s just out of sight from the Sia la Luce windows. And Kojiro can immediately see why as he approaches-Kaoru is holding a to-go container filled with broth and noodles from Kojiro’s favorite ramen bar, his expression unreadable as he scoots over to give Kojiro room to sit on the bench.
“What’s all this?” Kojiro asks, opening up the container immediately and taking the chopsticks Kaoru offers him before digging into his food.
“You must get tired of eating the same leftovers from your restaurant,” Kaoru says simply, gesturing to the container of food that Kojiro is already a third of the way finished with. “You can’t be eating bread and butter everyday.”
“Uh-thanks,” Kojiro says tentatively-his cheeks suddenly feel hot, but he’s sure it’s just the heat of the broth. He keeps his head down as he eats, mostly because he doesn’t want Kaoru to get the wrong idea and think this is affecting him that much-which it isn’t. Again, the broth is just really hot, that’s all.
If these are the kinds of nice things that Kaoru is going to be doing all month-paying for ride shares and getting Kojiro ramen-then hey, he could really get used to this-
Kaoru’s hand makes its way into Kojiro’s hair while he eats, his fingers touching the strands near Kojiro’s ear, stroking and caressing and pulling-
Oh god. Oh fuck.
Kojiro almost chokes on his broth, but he manages to swallow it just in time, his eyes watering slightly as he looks over at Kaoru in shock. And Kaoru looks back at him, his expression calm, in control, his fingers continuing to comb through Kojiro’s curls, like this is something they just do together-
“You need to cut your hair, sweetheart,” Kaoru says simply, softly tugging at the longer curls at the back of Kojiro’s neck. “I should have Carla make you an appointment.”
Kojiro wishes he could say that the heat settling between his legs at Kaoru’s words, a reminder of last night, is just a coincidence, but he knows that isn’t the truth.
“Do it yourself if you care so much,” is all Kojiro says in response, his brain still muddled as Kaoru brings his hand around to touch Kojiro’s face-
“Alright. I will. Tomorrow night?”
“Sure,” Kojiro says, only half sure of what he’s agreeing to, more focused on the fact that Kaoru’s hand is now cupping the side of his face, his thumb brushing against the dark circles underneath Kojiro’s eyes.
“Take the day off tomorrow,” Kaoru says softly.
“Okay,” Kojiro says quickly, his voice strained.
Kaoru pulls away calmly, unaffected, as if he hadn’t just spent the past few moments caressing Kojiro’s face and hair and making him feel things that he shouldn’t be feeling on his lunch break.
“That counts as a nice thing for today, yes?”
“Yup.”
“Good,” Kaoru says still composed as he stands up, smoothing down the silk of his kimono with his palms before taking one last look at Kojiro. The side of his mouth curls into a subtle smile, a rare one, one that causes something inside Kojiro to twist, a feeling he can’t exactly place. “You did well today.”
***
Kojiro can’t stop thinking about it.
He gets through the rest of the day on autopilot, answering questions from his employees and closing up Sia la Luce purely on instinct. By the time he gets home and crashes on the couch, he’s completely spent, his mind still racing at a million miles an hour as he chugs down six bottles of beer.
Kojiro lays down on his stomach, his face pressed into the pillow, thinking about the feeling of Kaoru’s fingers in his hair, yanking on wayward strands, pulling and pressing-
Kojiro’s hips grind down into the couch once, then twice-completely involuntarily of course.
It doesn’t feel quite as good as Kaoru’s hands in his hair, but it’ll do for now.
“Fuck,” Kojiro mutters softly, grinding against the couch-he shifts himself over, fitting his clothed cock in the divot where the couch cushions and the sofa back meet-and fuck, it’s not his fleshlight but it works just fine for now, sparks of pleasure running through him as he feels the front of his sweatpants get soaked with his pre-
Kaoru’s idea of niceness is not what Kojiro was expecting. Kojiro was expecting saccharine strained smiles that he could make fun of Kaoru for, but he got something else entirely-
One of Kojiro’s hands grips the sofa back, the other pressed against the sofa arm as he watches his cock harden and slide in between the sofa-he rolls his hips down, over and over, waves of pleasure running through him as he pushes his cock through-
Kaoru seems like he’s actually being genuine about this, and somehow that makes everything even worse-
Kojiro is being loud, he’s being so loud and he doesn’t care-groans and pants leaving his lips as he fucks his cock through the sofa crease and pretends it’s something else, imagines it’s something else entirely-
Beacause Kaoru is...he’s taking care of him-
Would Kaoru wrap his legs around Kojiro’s waist and pull him to him? Would he dig his fingers into Kojiro’s hips to get him to fuck him harder, deeper? Because it wouldn’t be enough, would it, Kaoru would need more and Kojiro would have to learn to give it to him, Kaoru would have to teach him-
And Kojiro could learn, he could be a good boy for Kaoru, he really could, and he could fuck him deeper than he’s ever fucked his fleshlight, he could grind against him harder than he can against this couch-
Kojiro’s hips start to stutter because fuck, he’s so close, and his sweatpants are soaked through now, adding necessary friction as he fucks his cock in between the cushion and the sofa back, and it’s so tight but he knows Kaoru is probably tighter, he knows Kaoru would clench around him and whisper in his ear as his cock grinds against Kojiro’s abs-
'You’re doing so well, Kojiro-'
“M’cumming, m’cumming Kaoru, fuck-” Kojiro groans out before his hips still and he paints the inside of his sweatpants white.
Kojiro’s breath is shallow now, and he winces as he slips out of the sofa crease, his cock sensitive, his head fuzzy from all the beer. And he decides to count tonight as a fluke too, and if he said Kaoru’s name while he was cumming then that was just an unfortunate coincidence.
Kojiro is still in control of this situation, he has to be. And he’s going to get Kaoru to give up and show his hand before the month is through, he’s sure of it.