Lunch Thief (2/2)
Title: Lunch Thief
Author: thanku4urlove
Pairing: Takaki/Inoo
Rating: PG
Warnings: Uh... Thievery? There are like 3 curse words I think
Genre: Romance
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Summary: Takaki Yuya is proud of himself. He's finally reached the stage in his adult life where he's cooking and packing his own lunch. But he can't even enjoy it, because someone in the office has started stealing his food... And leaving notes behind. Takaki is determined to catch the thief; it doesn't matter how cute the little notes are.
A/N: GOD this fic is more trouble than it's worth. Here's part two! Previous part here ( x)
“So…?” Daiki had a grin on his face and a mischievous glint in his eye as he walked in to work the next morning, placing his briefcase on his desk. Takaki spared him the smallest of glances before turning his eyes back to his computer.
“Morning.”
“Morning?” Daiki sounded indignant. “That's all you have to say?”
“All I have to say?” Takaki asked back, looking over at his friend again. “What do you mean?”
“Didn’t you text your Secret Admirer?”
Of course Daiki would want to know about that. Takaki fought hard to keep a smile off his face, not wanting to give Daiki the satisfaction, but failed miserably. Daiki gasped at his expression, sitting down and leaning over his own desk into Takaki's space.
“What happened?”
“We just…” Takaki shrugged, his phone now a weight in his pocket, and kept his eyes pointedly at his computer screen. “We just talked.”
Daiki rolled his eyes, as though that was the most boring thing he'd ever heard.
“But who is it?”
“Who is it?” Takaki asked back. “I don't know!”
“But I thought you guys talked! What did you talk about?”
Takaki shrugged again. “Stuff.”
He didn’t really want to go into the details with Daiki, feeling like the whole thing was rather private. They’d talked about the jobs they would have if they weren’t working in the office--Takaki said something at the beach, while the Lunch Thief declared he would be “one of those people that ate food on television”, which prompted some teasing. They talked a little bit about near-death experiences, the Lunch Thief recounting a story about stealing some of his sister’s makeup, while Takaki mentioned the time he fell off his roof as a kid. Nothing serious, nothing of consequence, but it had still been nice.
Daiki was giving him an unamused look.
“Do you know anything about them?” He asked.
“It’s one of the guys that works in the office.” Takaki finally answered, Daiki beginning to grin. “And he has dark hair. But that’s all I know.”
“That’s something!” Daiki exclaimed in excitement, and it was Takaki’s turn to look unamused.
“No it’s not! That’s what I look like. That’s what you look like.”
“It’s what Yamada looks like.” Daiki said, and he was grinning, and Takaki realized Daiki had found out about the previous day. “But it’s not him. You know that, right?”
“Shut up, Daiki.”
Daiki just laughed. Whether it was continued teasing or a genuine attempt to help, whenever a man with dark hair passed them by Daiki would tap Takaki in excitement and murmur “what about him?”
After about the twelfth time, when Daiki whispered excitedly about a coworker that Takaki knew for a fact was eighteen years older than him, married, and had two daughters, Takaki decided that he’d had enough.
“You pointing out every person we work with is just weird!” He hissed, not as quietly as he’d hoped. The passing coworker looked over, getting a sheepish wave from Takaki in response. Daiki began to break down in giggles, and Takaki reached over his desk to whack him on the head. He missed. “This isn’t helping! I don’t know who he is, and I--”
“Takaki, are doing any actual work at the moment?” Came a voice from behind them, Daiki sobering up instantly as Takaki paled and fell silent. The words weren’t said harshly, but they came from the mouth of their supervisor, Takaki turning slowly to look at Yaotome.
“I, uh…”
“Because if you’re not particularly busy, there is something I’d like you to help with.”
Takaki let out a breath. Oh. That was better than ridicule.
“What is it?”
“Decorating the break room. The Valentine’s Day party is tomorrow, and the room still looks boring.”
“I’m not…” Takaki almost pointed out his lack of experience when it came to decorating things, but realized as he was speaking that if he stayed here, he’d have to endure more of Daiki’s teasing, and quickly stood instead. “I’d love to help out.”
“Excellent.” Yaotome nodded vaguely in the direction of the break room before walking off. Daiki was grinning widely--possibly because they’d escaped a scolding, or because Takaki was being sent off to do a rather hilarious task--Takaki resisting the urge to flip him off as he walked away.
The break room wasn’t empty, like Takaki expected. There were two boxes full of what he assumed were decorations, red, white, and pink things that looked to either be fluffy or made of cardstock. A red chain of hearts was being held up by a man who had his back turned, his head tilted in confusion.
“Need help?” Takaki asked, walking up. The man turned, and Takaki’s step faltered.
He was about Takaki’s height, his black hair framing his face, with big dark eyes and pink and pouting lips. Those lips curled into a slight smile, the man raising an eyebrow. Takaki’s mouth went dry.
“If you’re offering.” He said, turning back to the wall he’d been holding the heart chain up to, and Takaki hurried over.
“I’m--yeah.” He said, trying not to stumble too terribly over the words. God, this man was gorgeous, and Takaki was hopeless. “I… Yaotome sent me in here to help decorate.”
“Hm. That’s nice of him.” The man turned his head to look at Takaki again, who was standing next to him now. “Grab this end, will you?”
Takaki quickly took the end he was being offered, and without warning, the pretty stranger climbed up onto the incredibly wobbly centerfold table. Takaki opened and closed his mouth in surprise, hovering behind him.
“Be careful.” He said quickly, getting a small exhale through the man’s nose that was almost a laugh.
“Just promise to catch me if I fall.”
“I… Okay.”
The man asked for a piece of tape, Takaki having to search the table for a moment to find the dispenser.
“You’re Takaki Yuya, right?” He asked, and Takaki nodded, their fingers touching as Takaki offered the strip of adhesive over. He wondered if he was supposed to know who his new decorating partner was, but his silence must have been telling, because he was glanced down at. “I’m Inoo Kei. I’ve worked here for about a year now.”
“Really?” Takaki asked, as Inoo Kei hopped back down. He felt he would remember someone that looked like this. He should.
“Really.” Inoo confirmed with a nod. “I mean, we’re in different departments, but we ran into each other at the New Year’s party.”
“We did?”
Thankfully, Inoo seemed almost amused by his lapse in memory.
“I mean, I remember you. You were third-wheeling Arioka and Yamada pretty hard.”
In spite of himself, Takaki laughed a little. “Third-wheeling them is my second job, I think. It’s the universe's second job.”
Inoo nodded and laughed, pulling a few fluffy decorations from the box.
“They’re sweet though.”
“Yeah. Plus, I’m used to it by now. I’m going out to lunch with them today.”
They decorated quietly for a couple of minutes, Takaki sticking heart-shaped cutouts haphazardly on the walls and hoping that it didn’t look too terrible. He wanted to talk to this Inoo Kei some more, breaking the silence without any tact.
“So what, uh… What are you doing for lunch?”
“Oh, I already ate.” Inoo waved a hand. “Nothing too fancy, just some fried rice. I love rice.”
Takaki had to laugh at the coincidence. “I made fried rice last night! I brought it with me today.”
Inoo’s brow furrowed, his lips drawing together. Takaki had a wild notion to kiss the expression off his mouth, the wishful thinking so strong he almost missed Inoo’s question.
“I thought you were going out to eat? With Arioka and Yamada?”
“Right! Yeah.” Takaki said quickly, hastening to explain. “I brought my lunch, because… Well, there’s this guy that keeps eating my lunch out of the fridge. So I made plans with my friends, because no matter what I try to do, he always eats my food before I can catch him.”
Inoo broke out into laughter. “That’s hilarious! Really?”
“Really. He’s a Lunch Thief. And it’s not funny! It’s thievery.”
“Come on.” Inoo threw a glance at Takaki over his shoulder, the smile still playing on his lips. “It’s a little funny. Do you have any idea who it is?”
Takaki let out a little sigh, returning his attention to the decoration box.
“No idea. He’s a black haired guy, so he could be just about anyone in this building.”
Inoo nodded thoughtfully. “Do you want to meet him?”
“Of course!” Takaki exclaimed, and Inoo laughed again. “He owes me. He’s been eating my food for a week.”
“So what, you’re going to make him pay up?”
“Not… Not exactly. I talked him into giving me chocolates during the Valentine’s Day party tomorrow.” The party that Takaki was currently decorating for with another very cute coworker. Takaki had the sudden, wild feeling that he was somehow cheating on his Lunch Thief with Inoo Kei. But Inoo grinned, raising an eyebrow.
“Romantic.” He remarked. Takaki flushed, bringing his hand up to the back of his neck and glancing away. Unbidden, a smile tugged at the corners of his lips.
“I… Yeah, kind of. I guess.”
“Don’t be embarrassed!” Inoo teased, prodding Takaki’s side with his elbow, the physical contact surprising. “I think it’s cute.”
Those words did nothing to help Takaki’s red face, and Inoo noticed, laughing rather hard at him before going to the other side of the room to hang another string of hearts. This table wobbled even worse than the first, Takaki running quickly over.
“You need to stop climbing up on these!” He protested, his voice loud to cover his concern, but Inoo just shrugged.
“Just promise to catch me if I fall.” He said again.
The room was a grossly fluffy, pink, heart-shaped disaster by the time they’d run out of decorations, the two of them standing shoulder to shoulder in the doorway to admire their handiwork.
“We probably didn’t need to use everything in both of the boxes.” Takaki remarked, after a quiet moment of contemplation. Inoo hummed in consideration.
“Nah.” He declared, Takaki glancing over at him, eyes catching for a moment on the curve of his nose. It really wasn’t fair for someone to be this captivating. “I think it looks perfect.”
He looked back at Takaki with a grin, and Takaki, who suddenly felt very much that he’d been caught staring, shot his gaze down to his feet, more willing to stare holes into his shoes than blush in front of Inoo again.
“Mission accomplished then? Because I guess we should go back to work.” Takaki said.
“I guess so.” Inoo held his arm up for a high five, but when Takaki went to return it the touch was incredibly light, more of a meeting of hands than the slap the motion was supposed to be. Inoo’s palm was soft, his fingers slender and pretty and long. Takaki swallowed. “It was nice to talk to you, Takaki Yuya.”
“Yeah.” Takaki felt his lips curling to match the smile on Inoo’s face. “It was nice to talk to you too, Inoo Kei.”
With one last grin Inoo turned and walked off, and Takaki watched him go.
Takaki spent the rest of the day thinking about Inoo. His lunch was completely gone when he took his lunch break, but found it barely bothered him as he went out to eat with his friends. Daiki and Yamada were in the middle of an animated discussion, and Takaki completely wasn’t paying attention, something he didn’t even notice until Daiki elbowed him.
“You alright?” He asked. “You’ve done nothing but zone out since we left.”
“I--Yeah! I’m…” Takaki wracked his mind, trying to come up with some sort of excuse, but before he managed anything his cell phone buzzed. It was resting on the table next to his arm, the vibration loud against the wood. He picked it up quickly, and upon seeing that it was from the Lunch Thief, instantly ignored his previous intention to respond to his friend.
From: Alien
How did you know I love rice? You’re the best <3
Takaki looked at the heart emoji, beginning to grin.
“Oh, look at his face.” Yamada said, his voice a loud whisper.
“And he says we’re gross.” Daiki agreed. Takaki flipped them both off without looking up from the screen, though he could see from his peripherals that Yamada was returning the gesture.
To: Alien
Gotta make your last meal a good one.
From: Alien
Last meal? What are you gonna do, kill me?
To: Alien
No! Last meal from me, you’re not going to be able to eat my food anymore once I find out your identity. You’re so weird.
From: Alien
You underestimate me.
And I know I’m weird. But you like it. ;)
Takaki found that he couldn’t disagree.
It was almost surreal to walk into work the next day and find that for everyone else, it was business as usual. Takaki himself had woken early, changed his outfit four different times, and very nearly been late. He was embarrassed by how self-conscious he was being, refusing to admit the real reason behind the outfit concerns. A dumb work party was reason enough to dress up, he told himself; it had nothing to do with the revelation of secret identities.
No, it did, and he knew it. Today was the day; the day he was meeting his Lunch Thief. So what if he was nervous? So what if he wanted to look nice?
His nervousness must have shown on his face, because as soon as he sat down, Daiki gave him a once-over and immediately began to laugh.
“What? Shut up.” Takaki snapped at him, scowling.
“You styled your hair.” Daiki accused.
“I… I always look like this.” Takaki defended, and Daiki just laughed harder. Takaki tried to kick him under their desks, but hit a table leg instead and stubbed three of his five left toes. He nearly cursed out loud, noticing Supervisor Yaotome walking up and just gritting his teeth instead. Daiki had all but dissolved in his seat, his eyes squeezed shut in mirth, his hand clamped over his mouth.
“Morning!” Yaotome told them both, Daiki nodding to him, Takaki offering up a smile that felt--and looked, probably--like more of a grimace.
The day didn’t get much better. Takaki’s nerves were doing him in. He managed to misaddress three emails and spill hot coffee on his shoes, and that was all before ten in the morning. The Valentine’s Day party was taking place over lunch, and the closer midday got, the less he could focus. By eleven-thirty Takaki had completely given up on being productive, leaning back in his chair and letting the seconds tick by.
To: Alien
You brought those chocolates for me, right?
From: Alien
Of course! They’re sitting on my desk <3
Takaki’s nerves coiled tighter, and he waited for noon to come. When it did, the office collectively clocked out and made their way to the break room, Daiki stopping in his tracks and bursting out laughing when he saw all of the decorations.
“What on earth did you and Inoo do in here?” He asked, Yamada releasing Daiki's arm so he could turn and look at the whole room.
“It does look like St. Valentine threw up on the walls.” Yamada admitted, Takaki about to thank him for giving such a colorful description when his brain caught on what Daiki said.
“You know Inoo Kei?” He asked. Daiki raised his eyebrows.
“Well, yeah. We're friends.” Daiki explained. Not that it was helpful; it seemed as though Daiki was friends with nearly everyone in the office. “I introduced you to him at the New Year’s party last month.”
“How do I not remember that?” Takaki asked, the question more to himself, following absently behind his friends as they made their way to the food tables.
The buffet was good, but Takaki found his appetite gone, his stomach too twisted with nervous energy to even want to eat. He kept looking over his shoulder every five minutes, waiting for a black haired man to approach him with a box of chocolates. It felt ludicrous, but he couldn’t help himself. Finally, Daiki let out a sigh and dropped his chopsticks down onto his plate.
“Get that look off your face. You’re just going to spook him.”
“Shut up.” Takaki responded on reflex, then froze. He hadn’t told Daiki what was going to happen today; how did he know? “Wait, what do you mean?’
“I just mean that if you look that anxious and constipated at the same time, your Secret Admirer isn’t going to want to talk to you.”
“How did you know--” Takaki put the pieces together, and his jaw dropped. “You know who it is!” He exclaimed, and Yamada’s face scrunched up in a snort of poorly concealed laughter, turning and pressing his face into Daiki’s shoulder. Takaki pointed his chopsticks between the two of them, incredulous. “You both know! You both know who he is!”
“Yeah. We do.” Daiki grinned, the smile not mocking or mischievous, and he nodded to the table that they were standing next to, a space by Takaki’s elbow. “And he’s waiting for you.”
Takaki looked down, and nearly dropped his plate. There was a small wrapped box sitting on the table now, having been set down beside him while he was distracted. He floundered with his thoughts for a moment before thrusting his plate into Daiki’s hands, all but spilling food on him, and picked it up.
He’d missed it. Daiki had distracted him, and he’d missed meeting his Secret Admirer. His heart was sinking, the package in his hands, when Yamada spoke up.
“Well? Are you going to open it?”
Not needing any further prompting Takaki did, untying the ribbon that held the lid on. The box was full of small chocolates, slightly messy and obviously homemade, heart-shaped and looking like they’d been popped from a mold. Sitting inside the lid, almost escaping Takaki’s notice, was a sticky note. It was written in that blue and sparkly ink, the handwriting having grown familiar over the past week.
There’s no lunch to steal today, so maybe I can steal your heart instead? ;)
In spite of himself and his nerves, Takaki found himself smiling at the flirty words, a small statement scribbled at the bottom.
I’m on the edge of love… Just promise to catch me if I fall.
Takaki’s heart flew up into his throat and promptly tried to suffocate him. Catch me if I fall. Catch me if I fall. He spun around, and his eyes met with Inoo Kei’s, who was standing near the back of the room and giving Takaki a small, hopeful smile.
Takaki crossed the room, barely aware of his legs carrying him, Inoo’s smile growing the closer he got. He was barely a foot away when he stuttered to a stop, holding the open box of chocolates and floundering for something to say.
“It’s you.” He finally managed bluntly, dumbly, and Inoo beamed.
“It’s me.” Inoo agreed with a nod that had him breaking eye contact, looking down at Takaki’s feet, letting out a laugh. Despite his relaxed body language, the laugh was breathy with nerves. “Sorry for not handing it to you; I couldn’t resist the opportunity to be mysterious one last time.”
“I can't believe…” Takaki began, the words how lucky I am dying in his throat, feeling like that was too strong, too intense. “I can't believe that Daiki knew this whole time, and didn't tell me.”
“I asked him not to.” Inoo confessed. “I talked about you to him so much that after a week, he demanded I do something about this crush.” Still avoiding his eyes, Inoo tucked a stray piece of hair behind his ear. Takaki watched the motion. “So I came up with a plan. I wanted you to have already met me, so just in case I asked Yaotome to send you in so we could decorate this room together.”
“Even Yaotome was in on it?” Takaki gaped, the full body laugh that his surprise brought from Inoo making the shock fully worth it. “I mean, it worked.”
“Yeah?” Inoo asked, meeting his eyes.
“Yeah. I really, really wanted to keep talking to you after yesterday.”
“Why didn't you?”
“I already felt pretty committed to a mystery man that was stealing my lunch.”
That made Inoo laugh again, Takaki unable not to smile back at him. They stood there for a long moment, simply smiling at each other, then Inoo reached forwards and poked Takaki in the chest.
“Well? After all that hard work, are you going to ask me out or not?”
“Hard work?” Takaki asked back. He couldn't help it; he was beaming. “All you did was eat my food!”
Inoo giggled, the sound dying down and his expression turning expectant as Takaki opened his mouth to speak.
“Inoo, would you be my Valentine?”
“Wow. Cheesy.” Inoo remarked, but he was grinning. “And, if it wasn't obvious… I'd love to.”
He leaned forwards before Takaki could react, placing a feather light kiss on his cheek. Takaki's entire face grew warm, a happy excitement swelling up in his chest and coming out in the smile on his face. When he pulled back, Inoo snagged a piece of his homemade chocolate from the box, popping in into his mouth.
“Hey! That's mine!” Takaki protested after a moment of recollecting himself. Inoo just laughed, giving him a wink.