RYOSHIN SUPREMACY

Falling For My Ex-Crush's Coworker

He couldn't lie.

Seeing Haru and Kambe happy together stung .

Don't get it wrong, he's happy for them and wishes them the best, but that didn't mean it couldn't hurt.

And god damn did it hurt.

There's a sigh, and he turns to see Haru's coworker. Kamei , he thinks.

"They look so in love, I'd kill to have someone look at me the way Kambe does to Kato," he laughs, he orders a beer and then says, "what about you? You the hopeless romantic type too?"

Ryo frowns, "I wouldn't call craving affection being a hopeless romantic, we all crave a little of it from time to time, don't we?"

Kamei smiles, "yeah, I guess we do. What's got you so glum? You looked sad when I got over here."

Ryo shrugs, "just thinking."

"About?" He pushes.

Ryo scowls, "none of your business, why're you acting so buddy-buddy with me?"

Kamei takes a sip of his beer, "because I understand how it feels to be in love with someone so far from your reach, I can't imagine how you're feeling, seeing him get in a relationship and having to see the two every so often," he responds.

"You don't know what you're talking about-, I never-,"

Kamei snorts, he interrupts, "you can't lie to me about this one dude, I can tell from just the way you look at him, you're an open book when it comes to this kind of affection-, possibly inexperienced in this department."

Ryo opens his mouth to respond, but he immediately shuts it.

Kamei continues, "if you ever want to talk to someone about it, I'm always ears, now I gotta go embarrass Mahoro in front of Kambe's sister." He walks away, and Ryo wishes for a moment that he had stayed around to keep him company.

-----

Just as they had done with Kato and Kambe months ago, when Mahoro had announced that she and Suzue were now officially dating, the gang decided to go out for drinks.

As a last minute decision, upon passing him in the halls, Shinnosuke decided to invite Hoshino with them. The others seemed to not have minded the idea of inviting Hoshino to join them, they encouraged it in fact, which probably helped in his agreeing to tag along.

He wouldn't say they were friends. They only really spoke to each other if there was a work event going on, or they would talk whenever Kato involved himself into First Division's business, they would hang back and talk about Kato's stupidity.

Despite their little talks, he wouldn't mind befriending the man.

So that leads them here.

On two barstools, talking to each other while watching their coworkers be dumb.

"I think I'm starting to get over him," Hoshino says, "maybe I just need to put myself out there to get over him completely."

Shinnosuke smiles, "that's good! You shouldn't hang on to him forever after all. Heartbreak is hard, but you'll get over that hurdle in no time!"

Hoshino smiles back, "thanks, I just don't know how to go about looking for other people and all that bullshit..."

"I can help you!" Shinnosuke grins, "I'm pretty good at this kind of stuff!"

Surprised, Hoshino asks, "yeah?"

He nods, a grin splits on his face, "how do you think Suzue and Mahoro got together?" He takes a napkin and pulls out a pen from his work bag, jots down something on it and slides it over to Hoshino, "if you ever need help, text me."