Pact

8

You roll over on your bed, slowly opening your eyes. You scan your bedroom, noticing your laptop on your desk. You decided to do extra work for your new novel last night, since you had finished everything for the article at work. You sit up, moving almost in slow motion. You rub your eyes, hoping to get the sleepiness to go away. You let out a yawn, trying to stretch the top half of your body.

You look at the floor of your room, swinging your legs over the edge of the bed. "Time to get ready for work." You get off the bed, starting to walk through your apartment to do your morning routine. As you move through the apartment, you drag your feet against the floor. You groan as you hear a knock on the door just before you were about to go shower.

You take your time walking to the door, hearing more knocks every couple of seconds. You swing the door open, looking like a total mess. "What do you want? Some people have to get ready for work."

"That's no way to talk to your boyfriend. What if someone that knew about us heard it?" A deep voice sounds from above your head.

You nearly snap your neck with how fast you look up, eyes wide when you see who's on your doorstep. "Kiyoomi?! What are you doing here?!"

Sakusa looks down at you. "I came to walk you to work, since you said you finished the article. It only took you a week and a half to get it ready for publishing. Won't it be coming out within another day or two?"

"Well, yeah. But I still wasn't expecting you to be here!"

"Can I come in?"

You move aside. "Make yourself at home." You close the door once he was inside, walking back to your bathroom.

He watches you walk away. "What are you doing?"

You stop just outside of the bathroom. "I was getting ready to shower when you got here. I need to clean up and get ready to head to work." You walk into the room, closing and locking the door before hopping into the shower.

***

"You really didn't have to walk me to work, you know."

"I know. I just felt like it. I have free time before practice. Why not try to make it seem like we really are involved with each other?"

You sigh, readjusting the bag on your shoulder. "Kiyoomi, you really don't have to keep going out of your way for this deal of ours. We can actually arrange times to meet instead of trying to spend a lot of time together randomly. I wanna focus on work during the week. If you're free on the weekends, then we can make some plans."

Sakusa narrows his eyes, gazing at you from the corner of his eye. "Do you have a problem with me showing up around the time you have work?"

"How would you feel if I started visiting you during practice?"

"It would give me a chance to push the point of us being in a relationship. If you ever have the time, you're more than welcome to come to our practice. You know where our gym is, and how to get to the gym once you get inside the building. We have afternoon practices on the weekends, you should stop by sometime instead of doing extra work at home, while your office is closed."

Your eyes widen. "How did you know?"

He grins under his mask. "I think from observing you a little, I was able to figure you out."

You furrow your brows, trying to keep your eyes forward so you don't accidentally make a wrong turn. "That's kinda creepy."

"Not really. Even if our relationship is just for show, people would expect us to get to know each other. Oh, and I hope you don't mind but I'll be staying with you in your office for a few hours before heading to practice." He slyly reaches over, taking your hand in his own. He keeps a firm grip, just to make sure you don't pull away. He was going to go all out for this deal, slowly starting to warm up to the physical aspect of a relationship.

You give up, not even trying to fight back. "Fine, then what should I know about you?"

Sakusa hums. "I think you should know about my family, my favorite food, stuff like that. You already know the history behind my career, so you kind of know a big portion of my life."

You roll your eyes, playing along. "Ok, so what's your family like? What's your favorite food?"

"I like umeboshi. And I have an older brother and sister, parents obviously. I have three cousins, one my age named Komori Motoya, who I think I mentioned during the interview. He has two sisters, and older one and a younger one."

"Umeboshi? Really?"

He squints at you. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"No. I'm just not big on pickled food."

"What food do you like?"

"Well, I have a favorite meal, a favorite snack, and a favorite dessert."

Sakusa huffs out a breath. "What are they?"

"(Favorite meal), (favorite snack), (favorite dessert)." Your lips curve upwards a little. "I also like (favorite drink)."

The outside hitter smiles. "I'll keep that in mind. What about your family?"

"Well, my parents are very supportive, but don't really like that I've never shown interest in relationships before. They just want me to be happy and live a fulfilling life."

"I see. Well, if you tell them about me, I think they'd be happy."

You hum. "I mean, yeah. But then they're gonna wanna meet you."

"What's the problem with that?"

You freeze, stopping just outside of your office building. "Are you serious?"

He looks down at you, making eye contact. "Of course. We made this deal to benefit the both of us. Regardless of how we act, we'll still be considered a couple in the public eye. I recommend you tell your family before our situation hits the news and social media."