Work Text:
Chiyoh ran into the coffee shop out of breath and extremely apologetic. She clapped both hands together and held them close to her mouth as she drawled "sorrryyyyyy" to her two friends sitting at a table near the middle of the store.
"Well look who decided to show up!" her friend Michiko huffed as Chiyoh took a seat beside her.
"I'm sorry!" She huffed. "I missed the express train. I had no choice but to wait around for the local."
"You could have texted us," Michiko scolded.
"It was too crowded Michi," Chiyoh whined while looking at her other friend for help. Kinjou merely shrugged as she shot a desperate glance across the table.
Help me asshole! Chiyoh screamed through her forced smile.
I'm not getting dragged into this mess! Kinjou replied with a fake grin of his own. Chiyoh shook her head as her smile grew more legitimate. And to think she had developed a crush on the guy in her first year. If Kinjou hadn't told her he was seeing someone else, then she might have remained blind to the subtle meanness the other harbored in favour for his intelligence, athletic build, deep voice...
Chiyoh shook her head to pull herself out of her dangerous thoughts. Kinjou Shingo was seeing someone. There was no way he would lie about something like that to get girls to stop flirting with him. Even though most popular boys usually pulled that sort of lie over others, Kinjou wasn't the kind to fib. He obviously just has bad taste in women.
"Why don't we order our drinks?" Kinjou suggested. "We can get to work after we've relaxed a little."
"Good idea," Michiko sighed. She had moved to get up, but Chiyoh put a hand on her friend's shoulder to keep her put.
"Drinks are on me," she stated solemnly. "Tell me what you want."
***
Chiyoh quickly memorized her friend's orders and walked around the wooden barrier separating the middle tables from the front counters of the coffee shop. Although the store had three registers, it seemed that only one was working, resulting in a long line leading to the back, near the glass doors. Chiyoh was lucky to have gotten into the line while it was still short, but one glance behind her as she neared the register made her feel bad for the people working behind the counter. The line almost led outside. The last person stood a head taller than everyone else, spiky bleached hair a beacon for anyone walking by. He did not look pleased at the implied wait time, but he did not leave the line.
Someone really needs their coffee, she thought.
***
Chiyoh's arms were resting on the wooden barrier as she spoke to her friends. She was still waiting for their order, but didn't see a reason to stand among the irritated crowd waiting in the pick-up area.
"We have all the tables gathered except for yours," Kinjou noted as he looked up at Chiyoh. "You brought it with you rig—"
Kinjou's voice faltered at the end of his sentence. His eyes had fallen on something a little past Chiyoh.
"Right," Chiyoh answered with a raise eyebrow. "It's in my bag Michi, can you grab it? The black lab notebook."
"Sure," her friend nodded as she grabbed the small backpack resting on the seat beside her.
"Thanks," Chiyoh mumbled distractedly. Kinjou was still looking over her shoulder. Curious, Chiyoh looked beside her to see what her friend was gawking at. Her eyes immediately fell on the beacon; no, the tall blond student waiting in line. He was closer to the register, but still about five people away from making his order.
Poor guy. Maybe Kinjou was looking at him with the same pity she had done so earlier.
"Order 245!"
"Ah, that's us!" Chiyoh perked. She ran to the front and thanked the barista as she took purchase of the tray holding her order. Once the three had a sip of their respective drinks, all agreed that they were ready to start tackling their lab assignment, and swiftly got to work.
***
"83.4, annnddd, 87.6."
"That's quite a jump," Kinjou noted as he punched the final reading into his excel sheet.
"Was that the test tube you forgot to wash out?" Michiko asked her innocently?
"You need to stop ratting me out," Chiyoh grumbled through clenched teeth.
"It shouldn't have too much of an effect on our work," Kinjou noted distractedly. His eyes weren't on his friends as he spoke. They weren't on his laptop either. Kinjou was looking off to the side. He was staring at the tall blond that had just made his order. Chiyoh silently cheered for him, assuming Kinjou was doing the same. The stranger was so close to reaching the end of this waiting game.
"Uhh hello? Guys?" Michiko inquired.
Kinjou turned back hastily.
"Do you know that guy?" Chiyoh asked her friend.
Kinjou nodded.
"Friend?"
"That's part of it..." Kinjou mumbled as he glanced back at the other.
"Why don't you invite him to join us!" Michiko offered.
Kinjou looked uncertain. "Are you sure?" He asked. "We should concentrate on this lab report."
"Oh, it's fine," Chiyoh promised with a wave of her hand. "It's so crowded in here he'd probably sit with us if he saw you in the first place."
Kinjou bit his bottom lip in deep thought. "That's true..." He admitted at last.
"Well? Go call him over!" Chiyoh exclaimed. Kinjou's friend was in the process of picking up his order.
"Juichi!" Kinjou called.
'Juichi' turned around at the sound of his name. Kinjou waved at him, and Chiyoh swore she saw the other's expression soften substantially despite his furrowed brows and deep scowl remaining unmoved. Maybe it was the twinkle in his eyes and soft blush growing along his cheeks that made his face seem gentler.
"Shingo, what are you doing here?"
"Working on that report," Kinjou answered. Chiyoh was all ears. This guy must have been really close to Kinjou if he was on a first name basis.
"I see," he muttered. His eyes fell onto the two ogling at him.
"Right, Juichi, these are my friends Michiko and Chiyoh. They're my lab partners."
"Nice to meet you," both greeted.
"Guys, this is my partner Fukutomi Juichi."
Fukutomi shot Kinjou a glance, but quickly recovered and politely greeted the two.
"Come sit with us," Kinjou asked as he glanced up at the other. Fukutomi looked uncertain. No. He looked bashful. If his cheeks weren't red before, they definitely were now. Kinjou didn't wait for an answer as he reached over the barrier and grabbed the other's coffee out of his hand. Having no choice but to do as he was gently persuaded to do, Fukutomi stiffly walked around the wooden fence and sat beside his friend.
"So, how do you two know each other?" Michiko asked. Chiyoh tried not to roll her eyes. That was a dumb question. What she should have asked was "What do you mean you're partners?"
"We met in high school," Kinjou answered as he shot the other a smile. Fukutomi nodded, eyes glued to the coffee he was cradling in his hands.
"Classmates?"
"Nope. We attended different schools."
"Oh," Michiko frowned. "So, how'd you first meet?"
"We were both in the bike club. Our teams were rivals."
"How cute," Chiyoh mentioned. "Are you two in the same team now?" She asked, assuming Kinjou meant they were partners in their current club. Racers partnered up, right?
Fukutomi shook his head. "I attend a different university."
"We're still rivals," Kinjou laughed. He turned to the other with a big smile stretching his lips. Chiyoh had never seen her friend look so gleeful. Sure, Kinjou smiled, but he was usually more stoic around his classmates and friends than not. "We actually have a race coming up soon."
He was speaking to Fukutomi more than to the friends sitting across from him.
"Are you ready?" Fukutomi asked. Oh! There was a grin! The scary blond was smiling! "Have you practiced?"
"Of course."
Fukutomi scoffed. "Not enough, I'm assuming. Not until you finish that assignment." He then leaned closer to the other, his gentle grin turning fiendish. "You're burning daylight Shingo."
And then Kinjou kissed him. It was a small peck on the lips, but there was no mistaking it. He just kissed his friend.
Fukutomi pulled away and used the back of his hand to cover his searing face.
"And you're plain burning," Kinjou stated gleefully. Fukutomi glared at him, but whatever he wanted to say was presumably held back thanks to the two nosey observers sitting across from them.
"Why are you really here Juichi?"
This poor guy, whoever he was to Kinjou, was totally being bullied by him, wasn't he? Chiyoh could tell just by their expressions. Fukutomi's thick brows were knit and his face was searing with embarrassment while Kinjou, to put it simply, wore a shit-eating grin.
The other muttered something very low, and very fast. Twos emu? No... To see you?
Kinjou pulled the other into a tight hug. He combed his fingers through the other’s spiky hair, and leaned to the side to say something only Fukutomi could hear. Chiyoh's chest fluttered at the sight. Two large and arguably intimidating university students intimately holding onto each other was not something she expected to see that late afternoon. Unable to pull her eyes away, she watched as Kinjou muttered something else in Fukutomi's ear, smile at the response he received, and then kiss the other’s cheek. It took all Chiyoh's self control not to hide her face in her hands from second-hand embarrassment. What Kinjou said next sounded like "I'll see you at home", but that was only a guess.
Fukutomi pulled away after that. He glanced over at the two strangers gawking at him, politely bowed and mentioned that it was nice meeting them before apologizing and taking his leave. Three pairs of eyes watched Fukutomi stand up, grab his coffee, kiss Kinjou's forehead and walk out of the coffee shop.
"I... had no idea," Michiko mentioned.
Kinjou shrugged bashfully.
"He's pretty cute," Chiyoh added.
"Yeah," Kinjou agreed.
"Sort of awkward, but in a precious kind of way."
"Yeah," Kinjou groaned.
Chiyoh watched her friend melt over the coffee table and bury his face in his arms.
"So, by partner I'm guessing you meant boyfriend?" Chiyoh asked, the last part of her question whispered. She didn't know why she bothered keeping it a secret. It wasn’t like the two had been very discreet in the public eye mere moments ago.
Kinjou nodded into his arms.
"Why'd he come visit you?" Michiko asked in an attempt to pull her friend out of his self-induced coma.
"Meiso's bike club didn't have practice today," Kinjou croaked as he sat up to face his friends. His cheeks were tomato red. "Apparently he dropped by to surprise me, but got bored of waiting."
"So he went out for coffee!" Chiyoh laughed. Cute!
So many things made sense now. Kinjou's inability to notice his popularity. His nonchalant way of shrugging flirtations off left and right. He wasn't lying about having a partner. He wasn't interested in something he already had —someone he already had.
"Why'd you send him back?"
Kinjou raised an eyebrow as if she had asked a silly question.
"To finish this report?"
"Idiot!" Michiko cried. Kinjou looked taken aback by the other's outburst. "Meiso's far isn't it?! He traveled all this way to see you, didn't he?!"
Kinjou hissed for her to keep it down. Michiko crossed her arms with a stubborn humph. "You should go after him."
Chiyoh nodded at her friend's suggestion. "She's right!"
Kinjou hesitated, but shook his head. "We should finish this. I told him I'd see him soon, so it's oka—"
"We can finish this ourselves," Michiko stated.
Chiyoh nodded.
Kinjou's hesitation was silly at this point. He obviously wanted to go after Fukutomi.
"We have another day to finish this!"
Silent hesitation.
"We'll complete as much as we can tonight and have you look over it tomorrow."
Kinjou's leg was shaking impatiently, as if ready to sprint away and drag his torso with him.
“But you’ll need the laptop and my notes.”
"We'll take your stuff home with us and keep it safe. I'll even show up to your morning class and return it to you."
"Guys..."
"JUST GO!" They both screamed.
And Kinjou was gone. Their lab mate didn't have time to say goodbye as he pushed his chair back and sprinted after his boyfriend, leaving his personal belongings behind in favor of seeing his partner.