Chapter Text
“I appreciate the enthusiasm, but we’re closed.” Soma called over his shoulder. Keeping his tone friendly but final.
The wood had made an annoyed screech when the door slid open. Yukihira Soma’s teeth grit together at the noise. He had just come back to the diner for some peace and quiet. As much as he reveled in the constant excitement he experienced at Totsuki there were times where even he needed to process his thoughts without the commotion of others surrounding him. Yukihira Diner was his safe haven even if the smell of food had slowly been dispersing from his and his father’s extended absence.
He had come home to consider everything he gone through since the rebels had beaten out the Azami Regime. Even his nerves would need a moment after that. The flames in him couldn’t last forever without being allowed to rekindle every once in awhile. Of course no matter how stealthily he had slipped back into the diner through the side alley having to turn a light on in the restaurant would alert someone in the market district and voices would whisper it down the blocks.
When he heard the scraping of chair legs instead of the door he gave a heavy sigh, rocked his pan once more, and resigned himself to the situation. “If you insist on staying don’t expect me to answer requests. You can have what I’m making or leave.” The only response he got were a few chuckles in varying deep tones. They struck a familiar chord in him but he refused to acknowledge the guests any further. Was it two or three voices he wasn’t sure, but they said nothing further and remained silent.
Soon he had fallen back into his world, letting the sizzles dictate the rhythm of his cooking. It wasn’t anything spectacular, just his idea of comfort food, no matter the amount of gourmet meals he tried could ever fully satisfy that feeling of home the way his diner menu could. The closest a meal had come was a quiche Shinomiya senpai had made during the second half of his Stagiaire. The dish itself had been overly refined by his senpai’s skills, but at the core of the quiche it had a warming effect.
Light coughing and mutters jarred Soma from his rhythm and he cursed unapologetically. Any other time it wouldn’t have registered in his mind, but his nerves were still raw. Taking a few precious seconds he pulled his phone and a small speaker from his bag and turned on a playlist much louder than he should if he wanted to make a truly delicious meal. Sacrificing one of his senses was a risk, but maybe trying to cook by smell and sight alone would lead to a new discovery. Maybe even give him an edge on Hayama.
A laugh escaped him when he noticed that the playlist he put on was one of Megumi’s. He had been focusing so hard on his food it took multiple songs to realize the melodies going through the diner were poppy love songs from a series of idol otome’s Megumi had gotten a little obsessed with early in the year. The smell told him everything was nearly ready. Timing everything with the energetic beats as they hit, one more chorus and it would be time to plate and serve. “ Secret scandal. What if I took your hand here? ” Soma shivered when the words were sung around him and he gave a quick flick of gold to the phone screen to read the title “Secret Lover”. His whole body shook from nervous laughter. Loudly. Letting his fatigue and stress take him over momentarily. Then in irritation he flicked the music off completely. Taking a deep breath he hoped he’d guess right on the number of servings he prepared and placed four bowls along his arm. “Hope you don’t mind something plain, fried rice.” Soma put on his biggest grin as he finally turned to the front of the diner and nearly dropped all the bowls. Three older men wore extremely different reactions and stared intently at him.
“Something plain is preferable over one of your disgusting concoctions.” The voice was just as biting as ever and it still sent a shiver straight to Soma’s core.
A hearty laugh came from his father. “Where is your sense of adventure, Kojiro?” Giving the terse pink haired chef a mischievous smile. “I bet anything disgusting you’ve tried of Soma’s couldn’t beat how bad mine are.”
Immediately Soma’s competitive nature kicked in and he started yelling as he carefully walked the food over. “Dad, why do you always show up out of nowhere. Just once would calling me first kill you? I thought you had gone back to America to finish the cooking tour you had promised to the former former headmaster. And my latest test is still in the fridge if you want to compare right now old man.” He set all the bowls down more violently than necessary. As his dad continued to laugh and bait him.
“I think I speak for myself and Shinomiya when we respectfully ask you to leave the two of us out of that battle.” Dojima said with forced calm.
Soma and his father both starting laughing as Soma settled himself into the open chair between his dad and Shinomiya-senpai. When his knee accidentally brushed his senpai’s he did his best to hide it and not over react, even if he felt a slight heat to his neck. Between cooking and arguing with his dad no one would notice.
Once everyone acknowledged the meal Soma took his time to taste it. He wanted to hear the reaction of the chef to his left. A small sigh of comfort came quiet as moonlight and nestled into his left ear. It more than covered all the nit picking his right ear was hearing from his dad. “You shouldn’t have put on that horrible music, you missed when the onions were at optimal heat, and what the hell was that playlist. When did you turn into such a sap, Soma.”
Irritation level at its max Soma slammed his bowl back to the table. Responding through gritted teeth. “I put on one of Megumi’s by accident because you all couldn’t shut up, so I just clicked whatever the last one played was.”
Joichiro gave a wicked smirk. “Oh ho! Soma, have you and Megumi gotten close enough that you have a playlist for her on your phone. Maybe I should’ve warned her what she was getting into when we were all on the train. She’s definitely too good for a trouble maker like you.”
“It’s not like that old man, she’s a good friend, probably my best friend. I don’t see her like that. Plus if you want to hear something really crazy I think she might actually have a crush on Kurokiba. Talk about polar opposite personalities, right?! But ever since their match up in the Autumn Elections and then the team shokugeki they’ve developed a strange rapport and it’s been fascinating to watch.”
Joichiro nodded with interest and the table finally turned quiet as everyone gave into their appetite, the only noise coming from bowls or glasses being set down. Soma had a million questions for why the three men had showed up at the diner out of the blue. Did they know he would be there, or had they already planned to be there and Soma had been the surprise?
The table they sat at held four empty bowls, but he was still hungry and assumed the three other men were as well so he got up. “Dojima-senpai, Shinomiya-senpai, are you still hungry?” Holding out a hand in offer to get them more rice.
“Now, Soma, shouldn’t you show your old man the same respect?”
“I’ve already served you once in your own diner, I wouldn’t want to disrespect you further, Dad.” Soma smirked as the other men gave him their bowls. “Besides I need to ask you something if you wouldn’t mind coming with me for a minute.”
Joichiro huffed but his son was so much like him he knew better than to fight the request. Raising smooth as a cat from his chair he sauntered after his boy. “If it’s about why we’re here we weren’t planning on hiding it from you. So there’s no reason to-”
Soma sighed and walked off to the stove. “No it was more a question of how fatherly you intend to be if I were to, hypothetically speaking, open a bottle of sake that Sakaki gave me before I left.”
Joichiro gave him a quick inquisitive look then smirked. “I’m sure you’ve drank other things she fermented at Polar Star so I won’t make a fuss unless you make an ass of yourself.”
“Awesome, here.” Soma thrust the refilled bowls into his father’s hands and ran into the store room to grab what Sakaki had assured him would be her most relaxing experiment yet. On his way back he grabbed four cups and washed the dust from them.
He set a cup in front of each man, letting his eyes linger over delicately strong features Shinomiya-shishou. Soma did willing call him shishou, even in front of father, for two reasons. The chef had pushed Soma farther than he could ever thank him for, and it irritated Shinomiya to be called it in public. Privately, well, he didn’t complain as much about the title.
Doujima-senpai eyed the bottle with a dubious look. “Yukihira-kun, I’m not going to assume you made this, nor that any student I have met at Totsuki did. Especially if it were made by a specific Polar Star student who excelled at fermentation because I am very interested in trying this.”
The smirk gave him the honesty Soma’s lies hid. “No of course not Dojima-senpai. Just a novelty bottle dad bought at a festival awhile ago.”
Even his Shinomiya chuckled at that as they all touched their cups together. Before taking a sip Shinomiya couldn’t help himself. “Joichiro-sama, you have raised quite a brat.”
Soma was glad he had already drank some of the sake as the flush returned to his neck while Joichiro gave another boisterous laugh. “Maybe so Kujiro, but you only had to deal with him for a week during that Stagiaire and even he grew on you enough to get a dish on your SHINO Tokyo menu.”
“After ample revisions and refinement only.” Shinomiya groaned with exasperation, but Soma caught the slight quirk of Shinomiya’s wide lips. “If you had trained him in a less haphazardous way it wouldn’t have caused me so much extra work.”
“Where’s the fun in that? Soma grew up loving the kitchen so I trained him for what he would need here. I had never intended him to go to Totsuki, so if you want to blame anyone bring it up with Nakiri-sama. He’s the one who pushed me into sending Soma there.”
Soma’s ears, a little pink now, perked up. “Wait what? I thought you sent me there because someone had called in a favor for you to do your cooking tour.”
Joichiro tilted his head and nodded a bit. A thoughtful expression on his face, it looked out of place on his dad without him being in the kitchen. “Yeah that was part of it. I guess you deserve to know the whole story now that Nakamura has been taken care of.”
The night grew deeper and Sakaki’s bottle became dangerously close to empty as the three men laid out the entire play of events that started before Soma even took his transfer exam. Shinomiya said little since, as he put it, “The change in administration wouldn’t have affected him much, but he didn’t like the idea of only one form of cooking being considered correct. Plus Dojima-senpai is a persuasive bastard.”
Once they had finished the long story Soma couldn’t help but let out a low whistle. “I get why you sent me now. Sure if you had never forced me out I would still be here happily cooking, but Totsuki has been incredible too. Just finding out there’s so much to learn and try constantly is,” he gave an apologetic smirk as he hiccuped, “well it’s crazy fun. Even a week with Shinomiya-senpai was worth all the things he threw at me.” He started chuckling as the men looked at him curiously. “Dojima-senpai you know how he likes to grab people’s heads when they irritate him, well my reflexes were too quick so he took to throwing spoons at me a lot. Heh.”
His eyes gold eyes turned serious for a minute as he looked at Shinomiya who was giving eyeing him back like he was considering grabbing his head there. “You know Shinomiya-senpai, I nearly gave up after that first night. I’d already lost to you in the shokugeki during camp so feeling useless in your kitchen was a blow. I spent most the evening on your staff room couch thinking over all my mistakes in your kitchen. Then I realized I was being an idiot. I didn’t know how to do everything my first time cooking for Dad either and if I wanted the chance to keep being excited by cooking I couldn’t get hung up over the bad. I pulled all the cook books you had in your office out.’ He gave a shy grin as an apology for the mess he’d left in the office. “I read and took notes on everything I didn’t know and well you know what happened after that.” The rosey flush on Soma’s neck and ears deepend while Shinomiya’s jaw tightened. Neither of the other men noticed the sudden change in atmosphere between their juniors until they heard a slam and thunk.
Soma was rubbing his head grinning and chuckling as Shinomiya berated him. The reaction from the other two was split, Joichiro was laughing and pointing at Soma for getting himself into trouble while Dojima shook his head and gave both Shinomiya and Soma admonishments. Soma didn’t care. The thump to his head may have hurt, but the thin strong fingers that had quickly caressed the underneath of his thigh at the same time sent electricity through his limbs.
Once the room had gone back to normal Soma realized he still hadn’t asked why all of them were there. “Hey Dad?” Joichiro gave him a lazy look, the exhaustion, food, and sake were starting to make everyone ready to call it a night. “You never said, why are the three of you here? I know it can’t be to check up on me. Dojima-senpai and Shinomiya-senpai are too busy for something like that. And you aren’t that meddlesome. So what gives?”
“You waited too long to get the full answer. Sakaki’s sake has kicked my ass. But in short we were already coming here to discuss ways we could offer further support to the new administration, since we kind of instigated it, when Satoshi-kun called Gin to let him know you had run off for some R and R. Pretty irresponsible as the current first seat, Soma. You’re gonna get an earful from Erina-chan when you return. However, we thought since we were already coming here we could include you in some of the discussion once you had bounced back. Maybe she won’t threaten to demote you when you return at least.”
“That was my suggestion, actually.” Dojima said as he stood to pick up the empty dishes.
The sake had worked its way through his brain and his thoughts came out as words. “Isshhiki-senpai, he pays more attention than I give him credit for. Things might not have gone so well if it weren’t for him staying quiet in the background and getting so much groundwork laid. I need to remember to thank him when I get back.” Soma heard his own tiredness as he spoke. “Dad, you shouldn’t be letting Dojima-senpai clean up.” He stood up, a slight wobble in his legs as he walked around the table, letting his body graze Shinomiya’s back, pretending it was the lack of sleep and sake making him unstable, as he took the dirty bowls and cups. Shinomiya felt the heat of the drinks turn from a pleasant hovering in his chest to a feral purr in his gut at the touch. No matter how many times he warned Yukihira, the boy continued to press his luck.
“If you break those I’ll be more mad than I would’ve been at Gin for cleaning up. At least he can handle his sake.” Joichiro called after Soma.
Shinomiya sighed and pushed himself up, following behind Yukihira. “Don’t worry I’ll make sure he isn’t being a complete idiot, Joichiro-senpai.”
“Great, and if those two are taking care of that, Gin, I’ll set up the spare room for you. Kujiro, you can either share Soma’s room with him or make him sleep down here. He snores so don’t worry about kicking him out.” Joichiro chuckled as he and Gin carried their luggage up the steps to their small apartment.
Once Soma could no longer hear his dad’s laugh or Dojima’s irritated tone, he let himself slump slightly against Shinomiya as they worked to wash the dishes. “Did you hear that shishou, you can sleep with me. Dad said it was okay.” Soma said it softly, just incase the door to their apartment wasn’t fully closed and to tease his senpai.
The cup Shinomiya was scrubbing slipped from his hand and made a soft plop as it hit the soapy water. He tilted his eyes down at Yukihira who looked more ragged now than he had at the end of the Stagiaire. The sight sent a small protective surge through him, but he ignored it. The amber eyes glared down into the half lidded gold ones. “You are an idiot, Yukihira Soma.”
Soma only responded with a small shrug of his shoulders.
Shinomiya flicked Yukihira’s earlobe with wet fingers. “Hurry up Yukihira or you’ll fall asleep and end up face first in the sink. I don’t care to explain to your father why I let his precious only son drown.”
“Mean as ever, Kojiro.”
Yukihira whispered his name and it took all of his strength not to drag the boy off to a corner and teach him some manners.
“At least tell me you won’t make me sleep on one of the benches down here. I really did come here to so I could get back at everything in my usual way. It’s not like I knew I would be in the way. Dad really never tells me anything. I didn't know he was a former two seat until he appeared at the dorms after training camp.”
Shinomiya watched as Yukihira’s hands went back to drying a bowl, even in his languid state he could feel the boy’s determination. Seeing the normally energetic youth at less than two hundred percent was almost terrifying to Shinomiya.
He let out a flustered sigh, “No, Yukihira, I won’t make you sleep on a bench. As long as we get these done quickly. I am tired too.” To Shinomiya’s shock and hidden delight Yukihira nestled sleepily into his side but took to cleaning the dishes with more enthusiasm. “Always pushing your luck.” He said as he gave him a soft smack on the back of his head.
Yukihira’s eyelids were barely open once they finished the cleaning and locking up. Shinomiya was keeping a firm hand near Yukihira’s shoulder incase the exhaustion took his legs, but this was his home after all. Walking every inch blindfolded would be trivial, and to be fair watching him in a place that he felt completely at ease in let him appreciate something he wouldn’t normally see.
As the last light was flicked off Yukihira began to slide an arm around his waist. Shinomiya made damn sure to stay silent when Yukihira’s fingers pressed against his butt before making their way to the opposite hip. Biting his lip when he felt the same fingers slide slightly beneath the hem of his shirt and press into his flesh. He felt the twitch in his pants as Yukihira’s fingers pressed deeper against his hip bone. I’ll let you get away with this, for now, Soma , he thought. No matter how many times he said Yukihira’s given name in his head it never stopped giving him a small pleasure.
Shinomiya placed his free hand to his temple and suppressed the mix of desire and irritation. The walk up the stairs and into the room took much longer than he wanted it to, but was relieved to see two futons already laid out on the floor. A chorus of snores were already coming from the older men down the hall and Shinomiya let his muscles relax. No one would catch them tangled in this strangely intimate embrace. Shinomiya closed the door and was about to pull the string for the ceiling light when Yukihira crumpled to the floor just a few breaths from either futon.
“Useless brat.” He muttered, and contemplated leaving him there for the night. But he had promised to not make him sleep on a bench already, so leaving him on the floor was too similar. Kneeling down he slid his arms under Yukihira’s body and marveled at the lean build that was hidden beneath his clothes. What may have been a slight defined frame at camp and the Stagiaire had become a solid knitting of lean muscle. He lifted the limp body high enough to hover over the mattress then let him go, the snores Joichiro warned him about were already humming out in a soft cadence. Against his better judgement Shinomiya allowed himself to carefully pull the dark blue diner shirt off Yukihira’s torso. He folded it up and set aside, perturbed Yukihira had a dark tank top on underneath.
Shinomiya found his bag and pulled some sleep wear out, no way could he sleep in the snug jeans that were currently feeling too tight around his crotch. “Dammit, Soma. Why are you such a pain.” He whispered viciously, eyeing the door.
He could go stumbling through the place to find the bathroom, but worried about waking someone up. Shaking his head from the mix of tiredness, desire, and vexation that ran through him he began to undress. His amber eyes looked out a window to the sliver of sky he could see past the adjacent building. The moonlight was bright and his eyes had adjusted enough to see more of the rooms contents. Not that there was much. Some notebooks scattered on a desk in the corner (Loses to Dad vol. 300 - 350), flyers for a new karaage meal at a local stall, an extremely worn charcoal stove, and a photo on the wall clearly lit in the moonlight.
Shinomiya easily recognized the setting. The awning which proudly read Yukihira was behind a young happy family. Joichiro was beaming as he held a hand with a tiny Soma, and gazed lovingly at his wife. Shimomiya began to understand just why Joichiro had never planned to send Yukihira to Totsuki. The tenderness and joy radiated from that single image. A small tear slid down his cheek. What happened to the amused and happy looking woman in this photo. He's never once heard Soma mention his mom directly. Did she pass away? Or did the joy wash away after a time and she left? He had a bad feeling it was the first reason since neither father or son seemed sad or bitter in the little home. The only reason a family could stay in a home missing the woman of the family, and still laugh, is enough time passing after their death.
Shinomiya raised a long arm over his head and down the center of his back trying to stretch out some of his aches. Hoping the small motions would also get the dark worries about a woman he never knew out of his mind. He was spending too much thought on someone he couldn’t be with. It would only cause him more problems. A muted gasp bounced through the room and he knew that Yukihira was watching him. He had forgotten himself and was standing in nothing but his briefs and moonlight. Shinomiya decided it best to play ignorant to the sound. With lazy fluidity he finished his motions and bent down to pull on the loose cotton pants, straightened up, and pulled a worn vintage style t-shirt over his head. The cross on his necklace catching at the collar when he adjusted it. Instead of immediately collapsing into the pillows as he wanted, he stood watching sky, fingers still wrapped around the metal pendant. Grey was starting to spread over the dark blue void. It would rain soon.