met your match | takeomi x reader

1: tonight

"welcome sir. thank you for visiting tonight." a woman bowed deeply to the man in front of her.

he stood in the entrance of a hostess bar, wearing a disinterested expression from the seriousness of it all. much like the other patrons, he was only there to enamor the women who surrounded him and subsequently be seduced by said women.

"yeah. who's available right now?" he responded plainly.

"we have a new girl you may like tonight, akashi-san." the woman explained.

before he could ask to see a picture, she opened the hostess directory in front of her, flipping through pages of headshots and photos of different women at the bar. she held out the book to the man with the woman in question plastered all over the pages.

"she's been getting frequent requests, but tonight she's free." she added.

he stared at the photos with an impassive look on his face, not apt to give away his true feelings. despite his body language, he must have thought she was good enough since he nodded.

"yeah. she's fine." he agreed, not even bothering to look up at the woman he was speaking to.

"perfect! i'll take you to her." the staff said. she pulled out a tablet booking system and put in the new reservation before leading him upstairs.

on a different floor, you scrolled through your phone as you waited for your schedule to fill. you had already arranged your booth with champagne, expensive liquor, and the appropriate drinkware, prepared for your next guest.

despite being relatively unbooked that day, you decided to come in just in case there were walk ins. it's not like having more money hurt.

you were still relatively new to this line of work. your schedule wasn't always packed, but you were getting an increasing stream of consistent clients, much to your and management's satisfaction.

it didn't hurt that the bar you worked at consisted of several different floors, each one more absurdly luxurious than the last.

"excuse me." you heard one of the managers call out, making you look up from your phone.

"you have a new customer headed your way now. his name is takeomi akashi." he informed you. "he's one of our higher paying customers. make sure he has a good time."

you let out a small chuckle, picking up on the underlying message.

"got it. thanks for letting me know." you said, locking and setting your phone down next to you.

you pulled out your compact mirror and reapplied your lip gloss before doing one last once over of the space.

there was nothing quite like meticulously setting a scene to make it appear effortless, but you knew you had to sell the experience to people, not just time.

and since he was a big spender, you would put your best foot forward.

some may call that mentality manipulative or cunning, but you knew what game you were playing. it was the game the other party consented to when they purchased time to spend with you, so it was all fair as far as you were concerned.

"i wonder what he'll be like though." you muttered under your breath.

most of your clients thus far were men double your age who loved to talk themselves up, complain about work, or even better, complain about their wives. it's what paid your bills though, so you couldn't be bothered by it. it just made you appreciate the clients who were there to have a conversation with you that much more.

you stared at the entrance to your floor intently, waiting to get a glimpse of the man coming to see you. fortunately you didn't have to wait long and saw a man enter the space moments later, guided by another member of the staff.