Chocolate Fic for ayumwu
To: ayumwu
From: miss_jelly
Title: Meatier Bonds
Pairing: Koichi/Sagi (Ninomiya Kazunari/Nakashima Mika)
Rating: PG
Summary: Koichi experiences what he'd always envisioned as a normal life. Not much later, he decides nothing is normal when an eyebrowless woman calls you by exotic names and sneaks food from your kitchen, and he might just like it better, that way.
A/N: For ayumwu, happy white day and I hope you enjoy this, despite how boring it turned out <.<
It's the first winter since he'd been released, Shizuna and Taisuke doing their parts both in the restaurant and elsewhere, Shi with her husband and Taisuke with work. He's proud, but also a bit lonely as he wondered if this was what it felt like to watch your children move on in life. He dwelt on it for too long, as usual, losing himself as he acted on pure muscle memory and prepared a meal for the elderly man at table three. It was late, nearly closing time and so he was alone in the shop, plating and serving the man his food himself and returning to his place behind the counter to begin cleaning up. Usually he waited until they were officially closed, in case someone slipped in an order at the last minute, but his eyes were already burning with tiredness and his steps were heavy with exhaustion, both physical and mental. He made a note to thank his father once again for all he'd put up with for them when he prayed in the morning.
He walked to the door and switched the small sign to 'Closed' after the man finished and left, thankful that no one else came before then, keeping him from turning anyone away (or reheating the range, as he probably would have ended up doing, anyway). He looked over the dining room, the tables and chairs and the post positioned just right beside a booth. It felt the same as before he left and before they were made to leave, but at the same time, different. He wondered if Shi and Taisuke get the same feeling from it.
He checked the kitchen one last time before heading upstairs, folding his apron over his arms and he went and set it on the back of his computer chair before wandering to the bathroom and getting ready for bed. He was back to relying on muscle memory as the day, the week even, caught up with him and he felt as though he could fall asleep right there. He stopped brushing his teeth and looked down at the bathroom rug beneath his feet. He shook his head and told himself the bed wasn't that far away and it was probably not a good idea to sleep on the floor, anyway, rug or not.
His bedroom was illuminated by the light from the bathroom for a moment before he switched it off, looking to where the bunk bed used to be and wondering, not for the first time, if things would ever be normal again. The thoughts came unbidden, forming an ache in his temples that he couldn't rub out and he hoped his siblings were more adapted to this life to keep from losing sleep over something as trivial as this.
He had a picture in his mind of what 'normal' was and as he turned it over and over, he made little plans, sometimes fantasies, complete with scripts and roles yet to be filled with actual faces- wives, children, in-laws. He knew what he wanted normal to be, what society had told him what normal was, what his parents made normal for him and Shi and Taisuke, but what he didn't know was how to get there. That part was always missing from his fantasies, his scripts. It was easy to blame the one person that made everything so difficult and different, for making him into this man who'd sit at home and stare at his computer monitor for hours, formulating plans and resorting to criminal methods to gain justice, who was so socially inept that he had fewer friends than family members. In the end, he was too exhausted to blame anything or anyone, shaking his head and letting his mind wander back to his fantasies of 'normal'.
He was under the covers, sighing pleasantly as he felt all his complicated thoughts tumbling out of his head and easing his head ache, when he heard the unmistakable clang of pot lids and plates hitting the counter. He groans and ignores the sudden urge to wrap himself into a blanket-cocoon and just sleep for however long it takes for the world outside his bedroom to disappear. He grabs the baseball bat beside his bed- a force of habit, even if he knows the one making this racket is not a threat, at least not a physical one- and trudges down the steps, one hand on the railing and eyes closed tight in annoyance and because he's just tired.
He almost tripped on the last step, but kept his eyes closed. “What do you think you're doing?” He tried to sound stern but ended up whining on the last syllables.
He could picture the scene before him, food stuff lain out and creating a mess over his freshly cleaned counter space and the person who always managed to sneak into his home smiling at him. He opened his eyes and was not impressed.
"Axel!” He groaned and decided to skip over the part where he tells her his name is not Axel and went straight to trying to wrestle his platter ware away from her. She relented after a few particularly harsh tugs and Koichi snorted as he put it away, mumbling about locks and women and how you can't trust either of them. “Axel, make me some of your hayashied rice.” Sagi settled at the counter, crossing her arms across its surface and smiling in what she probably thought was a charming way.
Koichi snorted and put the plate away before mumbling “It's not 'hayashied rice'” and sticking the baseball bat on the counter and clearing away Sagi's mess. “If you're hungry, come while we're open or else, eat some where else.” Sagi pursed her lips.
"I greeted you when you got home, you should show me some kindness.” Koichi rolled his eyes and grabbed the bat, again, trying not to remember the day he found out Sagi'd been taking his mail.
"Well, we're closed, which means I'm going to bed and you're leaving.” He gestured to the door, still sort of wondering how she'd even gotten into the building, but he was decidedly too tired to be interested in that.
Sagi shrugged her shoulders, hidden under what looked to be countless layers of heavy material, making her look somewhat cylindrical. “But you're up anyway, and I'm hungry.” They fixed each other with their most powerful glares, Sagi finally looking away after a few moments and Koichi took the opportunity to smirk while she wasn't looking.
"Axel is so mean.” She pushed off of the counter and crossed her arms, giving Koichi- who was stuck somewhere between comatose and annoyed- a look that clearly said she wasn't about to leave. Koichi couldn't muster the will to care anymore, deciding to at least take a seat on one of the stools and wait for Sagi to get bored and leave- there wasn't much else he could do, it was damn near impossible to force the woman out even when he was fully awake. Just looking at her, it didn't seem like she could be such a stubborn and strong girl, but under that slim exterior was something sturdy and tough.
It'd be endearing if it wasn't so inconvenient.
She turned in her seat to watch him rub the bridge of his nose, his eyes, and his temples, frowning at his obvious discomfort. “Axel, you don't get out much, do you?” She asked, seemingly out of the blue. Koichi looked at her quizzically, fingers still massaging his temples as he did so.
"What?”
"You're so tired even though all you do all day is cook- you need to go out more, or you'll age prematurely.” Sagi looked pointedly at him, as if trying to bore in her point with her eyes. Koichi squinted at her for a quick moment before shaking his head. If premature aging was really his problem, it was beyond anyone's help, at this point, anyway.
~*~
The next night, Koichi was equally- if not even more- tired as the night before, which most likely had something to do with having to stay up and make sure Sagi didn't get into anything or try to cook something.
He was still cleaning up when Sagi made her nightly appearance, ambling through the front door- which Koichi was very sure he'd locked- and fixing him with a look that was as frightening as it was playful. The next thing he knew, Sagi was hanging on his shoulder as they walked through town, stopping occasionally so that she could point at something in a window and Koichi could roll his eyes and complain about missing sleep.
They ended up in an izakaya, Sagi badgering him into buying her some yakitori and karaage. Koichi was still sullen over being kidnapped in order to walk around and so opted out of eating and being merry- he wasn't above acting out of spite, yet.
"Can I go home yet?” He propped his chin on his hand, looking around anywhere but at Sagi and she smiled.
"Do you prefer me in your house instead of out here, Axel?” Koichi snorted but didn't answer, a little horrified to realize that he did, and went back to moping.
~*~
Sagi's third visit was later than usual and Koichi had reached the point where he couldn't find the motivation to get up to tell her to go away, opting instead to whine loudly from his bed about breaking and entering.
It didn't surprise him when Sagi let herself into his room and turned on the television, and when he peaked his eyes open, he could see a bucket of chicken under her arm. He snorted and pulled the blankets close to his chin, satisfied to know his kitchen would be safe, that night. He fell asleep to the smell of food that wasn't cooked by himself and Sagi's voice singing along to some drama's theme song, all the while thinking that normal was always normal, after all.
~*~
The next day he was significantly more rested and by the time closing rolled around, his mind was clear enough to realize he'd taken to switching the 'closed' sign and bypassing the lock completely. He'd become so used to Sagi breaking into the place that he'd somehow gotten used to leaving the door open, counting on the woman to lock up in the end.
He wondered briefly what would happen if he locked it now, but decided it wouldn't be worth the noise and complaints. Instead he left it open and got ready for bed, as he normally did and slipped under the covers, wondering for a moment if he should turn the television on for her or not. Then he wondered when he became so accommodating.
He left the television off, which turned out to be a small mistake when Sagi woke him up a little later asking for the remote, this time cradling a store-bought bento box. He grumbled and found the remote for her, sleep-daze keeping his usually snappy remarks at bay, and when Sagi chastised him for being a poor host, “you could at least stay up and watch t.v. with me, party pooper”, he just snorted and thought that if she brought something good to eat, next time, he might do just that.
When Sagi showed up, the next night, with Chinese take out, he resigned himself to a night of good-smelling food and Sagi singing along to commercial jingles and a little dose of what he hoped to become normal.
From: miss_jelly
Title: Meatier Bonds
Pairing: Koichi/Sagi (Ninomiya Kazunari/Nakashima Mika)
Rating: PG
Summary: Koichi experiences what he'd always envisioned as a normal life. Not much later, he decides nothing is normal when an eyebrowless woman calls you by exotic names and sneaks food from your kitchen, and he might just like it better, that way.
A/N: For ayumwu, happy white day and I hope you enjoy this, despite how boring it turned out <.<
It's the first winter since he'd been released, Shizuna and Taisuke doing their parts both in the restaurant and elsewhere, Shi with her husband and Taisuke with work. He's proud, but also a bit lonely as he wondered if this was what it felt like to watch your children move on in life. He dwelt on it for too long, as usual, losing himself as he acted on pure muscle memory and prepared a meal for the elderly man at table three. It was late, nearly closing time and so he was alone in the shop, plating and serving the man his food himself and returning to his place behind the counter to begin cleaning up. Usually he waited until they were officially closed, in case someone slipped in an order at the last minute, but his eyes were already burning with tiredness and his steps were heavy with exhaustion, both physical and mental. He made a note to thank his father once again for all he'd put up with for them when he prayed in the morning.
He walked to the door and switched the small sign to 'Closed' after the man finished and left, thankful that no one else came before then, keeping him from turning anyone away (or reheating the range, as he probably would have ended up doing, anyway). He looked over the dining room, the tables and chairs and the post positioned just right beside a booth. It felt the same as before he left and before they were made to leave, but at the same time, different. He wondered if Shi and Taisuke get the same feeling from it.
He checked the kitchen one last time before heading upstairs, folding his apron over his arms and he went and set it on the back of his computer chair before wandering to the bathroom and getting ready for bed. He was back to relying on muscle memory as the day, the week even, caught up with him and he felt as though he could fall asleep right there. He stopped brushing his teeth and looked down at the bathroom rug beneath his feet. He shook his head and told himself the bed wasn't that far away and it was probably not a good idea to sleep on the floor, anyway, rug or not.
His bedroom was illuminated by the light from the bathroom for a moment before he switched it off, looking to where the bunk bed used to be and wondering, not for the first time, if things would ever be normal again. The thoughts came unbidden, forming an ache in his temples that he couldn't rub out and he hoped his siblings were more adapted to this life to keep from losing sleep over something as trivial as this.
He had a picture in his mind of what 'normal' was and as he turned it over and over, he made little plans, sometimes fantasies, complete with scripts and roles yet to be filled with actual faces- wives, children, in-laws. He knew what he wanted normal to be, what society had told him what normal was, what his parents made normal for him and Shi and Taisuke, but what he didn't know was how to get there. That part was always missing from his fantasies, his scripts. It was easy to blame the one person that made everything so difficult and different, for making him into this man who'd sit at home and stare at his computer monitor for hours, formulating plans and resorting to criminal methods to gain justice, who was so socially inept that he had fewer friends than family members. In the end, he was too exhausted to blame anything or anyone, shaking his head and letting his mind wander back to his fantasies of 'normal'.
He was under the covers, sighing pleasantly as he felt all his complicated thoughts tumbling out of his head and easing his head ache, when he heard the unmistakable clang of pot lids and plates hitting the counter. He groans and ignores the sudden urge to wrap himself into a blanket-cocoon and just sleep for however long it takes for the world outside his bedroom to disappear. He grabs the baseball bat beside his bed- a force of habit, even if he knows the one making this racket is not a threat, at least not a physical one- and trudges down the steps, one hand on the railing and eyes closed tight in annoyance and because he's just tired.
He almost tripped on the last step, but kept his eyes closed. “What do you think you're doing?” He tried to sound stern but ended up whining on the last syllables.
He could picture the scene before him, food stuff lain out and creating a mess over his freshly cleaned counter space and the person who always managed to sneak into his home smiling at him. He opened his eyes and was not impressed.
"Axel!” He groaned and decided to skip over the part where he tells her his name is not Axel and went straight to trying to wrestle his platter ware away from her. She relented after a few particularly harsh tugs and Koichi snorted as he put it away, mumbling about locks and women and how you can't trust either of them. “Axel, make me some of your hayashied rice.” Sagi settled at the counter, crossing her arms across its surface and smiling in what she probably thought was a charming way.
Koichi snorted and put the plate away before mumbling “It's not 'hayashied rice'” and sticking the baseball bat on the counter and clearing away Sagi's mess. “If you're hungry, come while we're open or else, eat some where else.” Sagi pursed her lips.
"I greeted you when you got home, you should show me some kindness.” Koichi rolled his eyes and grabbed the bat, again, trying not to remember the day he found out Sagi'd been taking his mail.
"Well, we're closed, which means I'm going to bed and you're leaving.” He gestured to the door, still sort of wondering how she'd even gotten into the building, but he was decidedly too tired to be interested in that.
Sagi shrugged her shoulders, hidden under what looked to be countless layers of heavy material, making her look somewhat cylindrical. “But you're up anyway, and I'm hungry.” They fixed each other with their most powerful glares, Sagi finally looking away after a few moments and Koichi took the opportunity to smirk while she wasn't looking.
"Axel is so mean.” She pushed off of the counter and crossed her arms, giving Koichi- who was stuck somewhere between comatose and annoyed- a look that clearly said she wasn't about to leave. Koichi couldn't muster the will to care anymore, deciding to at least take a seat on one of the stools and wait for Sagi to get bored and leave- there wasn't much else he could do, it was damn near impossible to force the woman out even when he was fully awake. Just looking at her, it didn't seem like she could be such a stubborn and strong girl, but under that slim exterior was something sturdy and tough.
It'd be endearing if it wasn't so inconvenient.
She turned in her seat to watch him rub the bridge of his nose, his eyes, and his temples, frowning at his obvious discomfort. “Axel, you don't get out much, do you?” She asked, seemingly out of the blue. Koichi looked at her quizzically, fingers still massaging his temples as he did so.
"What?”
"You're so tired even though all you do all day is cook- you need to go out more, or you'll age prematurely.” Sagi looked pointedly at him, as if trying to bore in her point with her eyes. Koichi squinted at her for a quick moment before shaking his head. If premature aging was really his problem, it was beyond anyone's help, at this point, anyway.
~*~
The next night, Koichi was equally- if not even more- tired as the night before, which most likely had something to do with having to stay up and make sure Sagi didn't get into anything or try to cook something.
He was still cleaning up when Sagi made her nightly appearance, ambling through the front door- which Koichi was very sure he'd locked- and fixing him with a look that was as frightening as it was playful. The next thing he knew, Sagi was hanging on his shoulder as they walked through town, stopping occasionally so that she could point at something in a window and Koichi could roll his eyes and complain about missing sleep.
They ended up in an izakaya, Sagi badgering him into buying her some yakitori and karaage. Koichi was still sullen over being kidnapped in order to walk around and so opted out of eating and being merry- he wasn't above acting out of spite, yet.
"Can I go home yet?” He propped his chin on his hand, looking around anywhere but at Sagi and she smiled.
"Do you prefer me in your house instead of out here, Axel?” Koichi snorted but didn't answer, a little horrified to realize that he did, and went back to moping.
~*~
Sagi's third visit was later than usual and Koichi had reached the point where he couldn't find the motivation to get up to tell her to go away, opting instead to whine loudly from his bed about breaking and entering.
It didn't surprise him when Sagi let herself into his room and turned on the television, and when he peaked his eyes open, he could see a bucket of chicken under her arm. He snorted and pulled the blankets close to his chin, satisfied to know his kitchen would be safe, that night. He fell asleep to the smell of food that wasn't cooked by himself and Sagi's voice singing along to some drama's theme song, all the while thinking that normal was always normal, after all.
~*~
The next day he was significantly more rested and by the time closing rolled around, his mind was clear enough to realize he'd taken to switching the 'closed' sign and bypassing the lock completely. He'd become so used to Sagi breaking into the place that he'd somehow gotten used to leaving the door open, counting on the woman to lock up in the end.
He wondered briefly what would happen if he locked it now, but decided it wouldn't be worth the noise and complaints. Instead he left it open and got ready for bed, as he normally did and slipped under the covers, wondering for a moment if he should turn the television on for her or not. Then he wondered when he became so accommodating.
He left the television off, which turned out to be a small mistake when Sagi woke him up a little later asking for the remote, this time cradling a store-bought bento box. He grumbled and found the remote for her, sleep-daze keeping his usually snappy remarks at bay, and when Sagi chastised him for being a poor host, “you could at least stay up and watch t.v. with me, party pooper”, he just snorted and thought that if she brought something good to eat, next time, he might do just that.
When Sagi showed up, the next night, with Chinese take out, he resigned himself to a night of good-smelling food and Sagi singing along to commercial jingles and a little dose of what he hoped to become normal.