Warm smiles and kisses
Kojiro smiles that warm, indulgent smile that Kaoru must have seen at least a hundred times this past week. Getting off that plane and seeing that mop of green hair above an obnoxiously loud shirt that was only halfway buttone...
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"You want coffee before we go?" Kojiro asks as he takes the empty plate and wineglass away from where his last customer of the day sits at the bar.
Kaoru dabs at his lips with his napkin and hums thoughtfully. He crumples the cloth up and tosses it on the plate before Kojiro turns away. "Might as well."
"Thought you could use the caffeine," Kojiro offers. "You've had a long day. If you want to win any races tonight you're gonna need a double espresso." It's said with as much faux innocence as he can muster and it immediately makes the flint appear in Kaoru's eyes, just like he intended.
"I can win with my eyes closed when I'm racing you!" Kaoru is already up from his chair, leaning his hands on the bar.
"Because you cheat, letting your robot girlfriend take the wheel!" Kojiro calls back through the open kitchen hatch. He quickly cleans the plate and the glass in the sink, doing the last bit of clean up before he can close up for tonight. He already did the rest while Kaoru was eating, grumbling about his day. The master calligrapher had two workshops today and those always tire him out, mostly from having to socialise with lots of different people. If Kojiro wanted to tease him, he'd say he's tired from having to smile all day; straining muscles he never uses. That's not it, though, Kaoru smiles often enough. It's usually hidden behind a black mask, or only visible to those who have the privilege. Kojiro loves having that privilege.
Their bickering back and forth is enough to rile Kaoru up, make him forget about his earlier lethargy. Having a full stomach helps too. The man always forgets to eat when he's busy at his studio, so Kojiro was happy to feed him today when he showed up towards the end of dinner service. He's always happy to feed his friend; he likes having some company while he putters around the bar to clean up. His servers straighten out the front room and the kitchen staff does most of the cleaning in the back, leaving only the loose ends for their chef. They have a system and it works. Sometimes even Kaoru helps: lining up the centrepieces at the tables with the artworks on the wall, or something equally perfectionistic. He doesn't need to help to earn his meal, Kojiro mainly likes the comfort of having his best and oldest friend around.
When his phone buzzes in his pocket, Kojiro lifts a finger to stop Kaoru's angry rant. His friend glares at him, but obediently shuts his mouth. He checks to see who it is and then hits the speaker button. "Hey Reki, what's up?"
"Joe! I'm so happy you picked up! We uh... We kinda need your help."
"What did you do?" Kaoru arches an inquisitive eyebrow at his words, inching closer to where Kojiro rounds the bar so he can hear the conversation better.
Reki immediately gets defensive. "Who says I did something?" Kojiro and Kaoru exchange a meaningful glance at his tone. To be fair, it's a one in three chance that Reki was the one that caused the trouble. Langa and Miya should never be ruled out. "And why do you immediately assume something bad happened?"
