𝕵𝖊𝖆𝖑𝖔𝖚𝖘𝖞 𝕲𝖆𝖒𝖊 | 𝕮𝖍𝖔𝖘𝖔 𝖝 𝕽𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖊𝖗 |

Chapter 23 | Yuki

"Hey what's the big deal??" A woman's voice yells. 

If you hadn't already left your apartment hours ago to go to work, you would have definitely heard the conversation unfold. 

"You coming here unannounced is what's the big deal, Yuki." Choso explains, holding a defensive position as he stands across from her.

"It's not like I wasn't here a couple weeks ago." She fires back at him with an excuse. She crosses her arms as she looks away from him, hoping that he'll make an exception for her now.

"That was different. You were just picking something up." Choso says with a sigh and a shake of his head. 

"And you were happy to see me then." She whines, stomping her foot on the ground childishly.

"If you would've asked how I was doing, you would've learned that I wasn't." He retorts. He turns away from her, taking a couple steps back as he slides a cigarette out of his pack. She motions to get a lighter out of her pocket to light it for him, but he immediately shoos her away. 

"I'm not going to apologize for leaving." She states after taking a deep breath and putting her lighter away. She uncrosses her arms, giving up on the idea of pouting for his attention and walks over to him so that they stand side by side.

Choso promptly scoots away, trying to maintain his distance from her.

"I wasn't going to ask you to." He replies flatly with a long roll of his eyes. 

A long period of silence settles over the two as Choso stays steadfastly in his stand off-ish position while Yuki still tries to poke at him as a ways of forcing him to lower his guard around her.

"We broke up." She mentions, her voice sheepish as she admits why she returned to him in the first place. Judging by her tone, it's likely that the break up between her and the man from Kyoto happened around the same exact time that you saw them smoking together. 

Choso laughs to himself, crossing his arms over the top of the railing as he slowly puffs on his cigarette. Yuki watches as his guard remains unbreaking towards her attempt to soften him. 

"Choso, I'm sorry." She finally confesses, though, her apology seems to have come a bit too late. 

He scrunches his brows at her, jerking his head up to meet her gaze with disdain. He stands up straight, using his taller stature to tower over her.

"I don't care." He hisses at her, taking another puff of his cigarette and turning his head to blow the smoke out. Even against Gojo, he didn't take on such an intimidating manner. 

Despite Choso's harshness, Yuki looks up at him, her gaze unflinching. 

"You've met someone." She mutters to him, bringing her face closer to his with the corner of her lip upturned into a smug smirk. "And that's the only reason that you don't care." 

Choso scoffs with a shake of his head, stepping away and turning his body away from her. 

"Fuck off, Yuki."

She's struck the right nerve at the right time, as she always does. 

Yuki steps forward, placing a warm hand on his arm, further tempting him to give into her. With one hand holding the cigarette between his fingers, he snatches his arm out of her grasp, glaring at her through the corner of his eye. 

"She's better than you, you know." Choso whispers with a breathy chuckle, taking a step back and heading for the door to his apartment. "She's smarter. Funnier. Much more beautiful."

His voice trails off and Yuki's eye twitches as she watches him walk away. Her hands bunch tightly into fists, hard enough for her nails to scratch at her own palms. She looks directly in his eyes as he lowers his head, taking another puff of his cigarette. His eyes darken towards her.

"Fucks better, too."

And just like that, Choso's lip curl into a sly smirk as he manages to get under her skin this time. She stomps over to him, taking her hand and grabbing a handful of the collar of his shirt. She yanks him to her, their faces barely an inch apart. 

"Expecting a kiss?" He asks, wearing a look of pride as a laugh escapes his lips.

"Fuck you, Choso." She growls at him, he could feel her breath on his chin, but none of it could get to him now. 

He wraps his hand around her wrist, tugging her hand away from him and letting her go. She huffs at him, staring off into the distance. 

"Why'd you even let me smoke with you when I came here?" She asks, genuinely curious and frustrated with him. He'd never made himself to be such a puzzle with her, it was always easy to do the opposite. 

"I don't know, Yuki." He admits, exhaling in relief now that they've managed to reach a level ground where they don't have to go after each other's throats. "Maybe I was just curious about how you were doing."

"So you weren't angry?" Her shoulders relax.

"Not at the time." He answers dryly, furthering her confusion.

"But you are now?" 

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Could you stop with the questions?" His shoulders tense as she inches closer to him again. He takes another puff of his cigarette as he rests his back against the wall next to the door frame. "I'm mad now cuz' you're calling me sweetness like you didn't pull some asshole move on me." 

"But we weren't even dating." She retorts with truth.

"I don't care. We were friends." He replies with a heavy sigh. 

"We weren't friends, we were hooking up." She corrects his words, staring him down and waiting for whatever response he comes up with next. 

But Choso doesn't say anything. Instead, he raises his hand to his face, pinching the bridge of his nose to keep himself from getting increasingly frustrated with her. 

"I liked you, Yuki." He admits with his eyes closed. 

"Then why didn't you ask me to be your girlfriend?" She raises her voice at him, equally as upset. 

"Well, I don't think that would have mattered seeing as how you ditched me for some older douchebag in Kyoto!" He fires back at her, immediately getting riled up again. 

"It would have mattered! I fucking liked you!" She yells, stomping her foot on the ground once more.

And for a moment, tense silence creates a rift between them again. Choso tosses his cigarette away and slumps onto the ground, extending one leg out while he rests an arm on the other. 

"Well even if it mattered then, it doesn't now." He sighs, his voice quieter and composed. 

"So.." She says, lowering her voice, tired from going back and forth with him. "Who's the other woman?"

"Don't call her that." Choso says, his words nipping at her as he defends you. He huffs as he looks up at Yuki with a serious look in his eyes. "She lives a couple doors down and I really-"

He cuts himself off. His eyes widening as he sees you approaching the complex, right down the sidewalk.

"Ohhh, fuck."