Some Sakuraiba love for learashi!

[cherryleaf]

Title: The way to a man’s heart
Pairing: Sakuraiba (main); Juntoshi (side), Nino x wife (mentioned)
Rating: PG
Genre: AU, slice of life, romance, angst, humor
Summary: Jobless and on the verge of eviction, Aiba is saved by a charming stranger in a weird, Cindarelly-story kind of way…
A/N: dear learashi! I took a bunch of prompt from your list (though it was hard, cause I wanted to write almost everything from it…) and mixed them together, I hope the end result meets your liking

Aiba quickened his steps when he spotted the building he was heading to. He wasn’t exactly late but Matsujun’s favorite saying was ‘If you’re not ten minutes early, you’re late already’. So, if you asked him, Aiba was late like five minutes ago, though the traffic was really not up to him to control. But it was an important day for Ohno and therefore it was important for Matsujun as well. Aiba had no choice but to prepare himself for one hell of a scolding!

“You’re late!” Jun barked as a greeting as soon as Aiba stepped through the threshold.

“I know, I’m sorry!” Aiba said obediently, quickly putting away his stuff and putting on an apron.

“You know we have a lot to do…” Jun grumbled without taking his eyes off the platter he was preparing. Officially he might be responsible for the catering only, but as the perfectionist he was, he would probably check and double-check every other detail of his boyfriend’s gallery opening.

Aiba nodded and made a non-comital hum as he started his own tasks. All the while Jun was droning in the background how much they had to do and how important it was that everything was perfect…

Sho walked around the gallery, hands tucked in the pocket of his suit pants. The place was dimly lit, the strategically placed lights aimed to highlight the paintings and sculptures on display. He’d seen Ohno’s works many times before, still it amazed him every time all over again. He wasn’t too proud to admit that he was a bit jealous of Ohno’s talent, since his own talent, or lack thereof, usually resulted in stick figures that could be outperformed by a regular three year-old.

“Champagne, sir?”

Sho jumped a little, startled out of his musing over one of Ohno’s paintings. Turning around, he found himself face to face with one of the waiters, holding out a tray with champagne glasses, flashing him with the brightest smile Sho had ever seen.

“Oh, yeah. Thanks…” he said as he took a glass.

“You’re welcome, sir!” the man grinned a little wider, his eyes wrinkling adorably before moving away.

Sho blinked, a bit dazzled. Then, he continued his way around the exhibition, hoping to find Ohno somewhere to congratulate him.

“Nii-san! Congratulations! These are amazing, as always!” Sho greeted Ohno when he finally found him, clapping the shoulder of the sleepy-eyed artist.

“Thanks! I’m just glad I’m not under a deadline any longer. I can finally go fishing or camping again…” Ohno said, pouting.

“Yeah, I know the feeling…” Sho chuckled at that. Ohno always preferred his own company, his select few friends were the only exception.

Ohno leaned onto Sho’s shoulder with a heavy sigh. Sho wasn’t sure if it was the champagne or the exhaustion that started to catch up with his cousin; either way maybe they should find him a seat before he fell over, Sho thought. He saw a few reporters among the guests and a picture of Ohno snoring away in the middle of his own gallery opening probably wasn’t the best publicity…

“Why don’t you have a seat, nii-san?” Sho asked, leading the shorter man to a bench nearby. “You can go home soon enough…”

Ohno hummed, staring into the void for a moment then perked up suddenly.

“Oh, you’ve not met Jun-kun yet, right?” he asked suddenly.

“Yeah, cause you keep hiding him,” Sho said teasing. Ohno was talking about his boyfriend for months now, yet they’ve never had the chance to actually meet. “Is he here?”

Ohno nodded.

“He did the catering for me. Well, he and Aiba-chan did… But you’ll have to wait until it’s all done. He’s really professional like that…” Ohno said with a silly, affectionate grin spreading on his face.

“I guess I’ll wait here with you then,” Sho said and sat down next to Ohno.

“There you are, Satoshi!”

Sho looked up from his phone an hour or so later, watching as a tall, broad-shouldered man approached them.

“Nii-san, your boyfriend is here!” Sho nudged Ohno’s head off his shoulder, effectively waking the older man from his slumber.

“Ah, Jun-kun!” he smiled up softly at Jun. “This is Sho-kun…”

They talked for a few minutes, mostly about Jun’s catering business because Sho was always happy to talk about anything related to food, though his interest laid in actually eating rather than cooking. Their conversation was interrupted, though, when the waiter Sho had met before approached them.

“Hey, Matsujun! I’ve packed up and loaded everything in your car,” he said, handing him a set of keys. “Talk to you later?... Goodnight!” and with that he was gone without sparing as much as a glance in Sho’s direction.

It did not bother Sho, or so he insisted in his head…

Aiba stood under the awning of the gallery, pouting at the pouring rain as if that would make it stop. Just ten minutes ago he was here, loading Jun’s car, and not as much as a drop of rain then! Life was unfair. A shiver ran down his spine, as he imagined having to go home in this rain. He’d be drenched to the bone before he could reach the next corner, let alone the train station…

“It’s coming down hard for sure…”

Aiba jumped a little and turned around quickly. Jun and Ohno’s friend from before stepped next to him, peering out at the rain.

“Oh, hi! Yeah, it is…” he flashed a little smile. “Hopefully it’ll stop soon. Not a fan of walking in the rain…” Aiba blabbed. He was unsure what else to say at that point, so he just flashed another nervous smile to the man.

“Hm… That’s unlikely…” Sho said, showing the weather app on his phone to Aiba, which predicted heavy rain until next morning.

“You’re joking, right?!” Aiba cried out, looking at the screen in disbelief, his lips curling into a pout once again.

“I could give you a lift…” Sho offered. “I’m Sakurai Sho, by the way. I’m Ohno’s cousin,” he added when he saw Aiba’s guarded look.

“Oh! Aiba Masaki…” Aiba introduced himself, the mistrustful expression melting from his face. “Thanks for the offer but I can’t accept it. It’s probably out of your way anyway, I don’t want to cause trouble…” he said with a small smile, hoping the man wouldn’t get offended or something. This Sakurai seemed like a nice guy and everything but…

Sho just laughed, eyes sparkling and it may or may not made Aiba blush.

“Come on!” Sho said simply, just enough command in his tone that Aiba gave up trying to argue his way out and followed Sho’s dash to a car parked near the entrance.

”So…” Sho spoke up after a few minutes of driving in silence. “Nii-san mentioned you helped Jun-san with the food tonight. Are you a chef too?”

“What?” Aiba laughed out. “No, no! Nothing fancy like that. Did go to cooking school for a few years, but that’s all. That’s how I know Matsujun, actually. But training to be a chef is… pretty pricey…” Aiba finished a bit lamely. He was pretty sure that his face was red with embarrassment. Normally he wasn’t ashamed to admit that he was poor but admitting it to someone as obviously wealthy as Sho… Just one look at his clothes or his car was enough to tell Aiba how different their social standing was. Sho didn’t answer for a while which only made Aiba feel worse about his little confession.

“Well, chef or not, the food back there was really delicious! I can’t cook to save my life, actually,” Sho said with a grin, like it was nothing for him to admit such a character flaw to someone he met only a few hours ago. “I thought about signing up to one of those cooking classes…”

“What’s stopping you?” Aiba asked curiously.

“I’m busy most of the time. My company handles a lot of international business, so I have a pretty hectic work schedule which leaves little time to hobbies at all, and freeing up time for a regular thing on top of everything… Yeah, almost impossible…”

“Oh…” Aiba had no idea what else to say. He was quite sure already that Sho’s life was leagues away from his, being Ohno’s cousin alone was a pretty good clue of that. There that man was, throwing around words like ‘international business’, like other people talk about going to the convenience store. Yeah, they were obviously living in completely different worlds…

The silence in the car started to get uncomfortable and it made Aiba itch to say something, anything really, but Sho beat him to it:

“Just mentioning my boring job killed the mood, right? As always…” he laughed, but it sounded forced. “What about you? What are you doing if you’re not a chef?”

Aiba hesitated for a moment, then decided it wasn’t worth it to try to come up with something fancy. It’s not like they’d ever meet again so adding one more embarrassing confession didn’t make any difference.

“Nothing. At the moment. That’s why I was helping out Matsujun. I used to work at this izakaya but… Let’s just say the owner and I had a… disagreement about the menu…”

“What does that mean? I tasted your food. Anyone would be crazy to fire you!” Sho complained, sounding honestly offended.

Aiba chuckled a little and felt his cheeks heat up with a blush again, but for once, it wasn’t out of embarrassment.

“You tasted Matsujun’s food, all I did was assisting with the prepping and serving. But thank you. And to answer your question, he was adamant to stick to traditional Japanese flavors only and he found my recipes too… experimental…” Aiba said with a shrug. It didn’t matter anymore. Holding a grudge wouldn’t change anything so he didn’t, but having a handsome foodie like Sho get so offended on his behalf, even if it was unfounded, did feel nice. “Oh, you can stop here. My place is just a bit ahead…” Aiba said when his building got in sight through the rain-slicked windshield.

“This is where you live?...” Sho couldn’t help but ask.

He sounded just as judgmental as Aiba would expect him to be, but it was probably his first time seeing how the other half of the world lived. And, being unemployed as he was, he could call himself lucky to even have a place he could still afford. Before getting out of the car, he looked at Sho for one last time:

“Thank you for the ride, Sakurai-san! Goodbye!”

A few weeks passed and Aiba had to admit that forgetting Sho might not be as easy as he thought it would be. While he was working at the izakaya, he used to have long conversation with customers over the counter, then forget about whatever they were talking about as soon as they were out the door. Yet he couldn’t shake off his conversation with Sho. Not even when his lack of employment resulted in a pending eviction threat from his landlord, which should’ve kept his mind busy enough…

When he got a call from an unknown number, Sho was the last person he expected to hear on the other end of the line.

“Hello, Aiba-san?”

“Yeah… Who is it?”

“This is Sakurai Sho. We’ve met a few weeks ago at nii-san’s… I mean Ohno’s exhibition opening… He gave me your number…”

“Yeah, I remember,” Aiba cut through Sho’s rambling. “Can I help you with anything?” he asked, though he had completely no idea what someone like Sho could want from him.

“So… after our talk the other day I was thinking… If you have time… Can you teach me to cook? I would compensate you for your time, of course!”

Aiba couldn’t help but wonder whether Sho actually wanted to learn to cook or if he considered him some kind of charity case. He was torn over the idea, because he really didn’t want any pity, and normally he wouldn’t mind to teach Sho as a simple favor. He liked to help people after all… But, rationally thinking, his current situation didn’t allow him to be picky about any kind of job offers he could get.

“Yeah, sure. No problem, I have the time,” ‘I have nothing but time…’ he added in his head. “Just tell me when and where it would suit you…” he said and he tried to convince himself that the eagerness he felt in the pit of his stomach was the prospect to get paid for something and therefore avoid being evicted next month. It surely had nothing to do with Sho himself…

They settled on an afternoon the following week because Sho wasn’t able to free up any time in his busy schedule earlier. On the agreed upon day, Aiba found himself looking up at a high-rise apartment complex, all steel and glass, with a doorman and everything.

“Wow…” he mumbled under his breath. It was quite intimidating, standing there in his beat-up boots and worn jeans.

Since the doorman was already eyeing him doubtfully, Aiba decided to call Sho first. But his call went straight to voicemail. And so did ten and twenty minutes later when he tried again…

Just as he decided to send a text to reschedule since Sho obviously wasn’t available at the moment…

“Aiba-san!”

As Aiba turned around, he just saw Sho getting out of a cab to jog over to him with a sheepish smile on his face.

“Sorry to make you wait. Had a little mess up at the office. I was stuck in a meeting until now, trying to clear it up… I’d rather not bore you with the details…” he apologized hurriedly. “You could’ve waited in the lobby, it would’ve been more comfortable…”

“Well, your doorman looked very protective about the place, so I decided not to try my luck. At least it’s not raining today!” Aiba said with a grin.

As they approached the entrance together, the doorman looked way more willing to open the door for them, greeting Sho with a deep bow and a respectful ‘Welcome back, Sakurai-sama!’

They rode the elevator to Sho’s floor, just one below the top floor. If until then Aiba was amazed by the luxury of the building, once Sho opened the door to his apartment, he faced a much different surprise…

Sho hurriedly kicked off his shoes and rushed in, picking up various clothing items and what-not on his way, all the way rambling about being busy and hardly being at home. Aiba followed him, carefully making his way through the mess that Sho couldn’t pick up on his way.

“It’s probably a good thing you didn’t ask Matsujun for cooking lessons. He’d have a heart attack or an aneurysm if he saw your place…” Aiba mused aloud with a slight chuckle as he looked for the kitchen.

It wasn’t any better. The counter was cluttered with empty take-out containers and beer cans, dirty glasses and coffee mugs. Since Sho disappeared somewhere in the apartment, probably to dispose or hide whatever he was picking up on his way inside, Aiba took the liberty to start cleaning up the kitchen. Anything was better than just standing around in the middle of this mess. And the kitchen was no place to do any cooking in the state it was at the moment…

By the time Sho emerged, Aiba had gathered all the empty cans and food containers in trash bags and loaded the dishwasher.

“You shouldn’t have done that…” Sho said, rubbing the back of his neck embarrassed.

“No offense, Sho-chan, but it’s no place for cooking. Or living, to be honest… You need a maid. Or a housekeeper…” Aiba said, his words were chiding, but his smile took all the bite from his words.

Not that Sho heard anything after ‘Sho-chan’. No one but his mother ever called him ‘Sho-chan’ for years now, yet it didn’t explain why his heart skipped a beat for a moment.

“I can stay and help you clean up a bit but we won’t be able to do any cooking today,” Aiba had just said when Sho tuned back in.

“What? Why?” Sho asked, honestly surprised.

This time Aiba didn’t even try to hold back his laughter.

“Come on! You’d probably get food poisoning if you cooked here now. And even though you have quite the equipment here, you hardly have anything to cook with…”

“You’re right… I should’ve gone grocery shopping, shouldn’t I?” Sho mumbled, looking at his feet like a scolded child. “Sorry that I wasted your time…”

Aiba found this boyish side of Sho unfairly adorable. It must’ve done something to his brain because before he could stop himself, he said:

“I could do it for you.”

“What? Grocery shopping?” Sho blinked at him confused.

Aiba knew he was blushing, but he couldn’t come up with anything to get himself out of it.

“Well, that too, but I actually meant the housekeeping thing. I can do it for you. You obviously need someone to keep things in order around here. You can’t actually enjoy living in this mess…” he said, looking around again with a frown.

Sho gaped at him for a few moments.

“I insist on paying you,” he said finally.

“I insist on that too,” Aiba replied with a straight face. “I also want compensation ’cause this place screams health hazard…” he added with a teasing grin.

“Hey, it’s not that bad!” Sho protested, pouting. But it quickly turned around, as Aiba’s smile seemed to be quite infectious. “How about accommodation included instead?” Sho asked. “I have a spare room and since you seem to prefer blunt honesty: your place seemed to have quite a few hazards as well…” he said, not that he had spent much time thinking about Aiba’s potentially dangerous neighborhood. Of course he didn’t. Why would he?

It was Aiba’s turn to gape at Sho with wide eyes.

“You want me to move in with you?” he asked back, because there was just no way was that what Sho was saying. Right? “You don’t even know me!”

“Maybe. But you’re friends with nii-san. And you’re willing to clean up this mess for me, I can hardly imagine you’d be a serial killer in your spare time or something,” Sho said chuckling. “So, deal?”

If a month ago someone had told Aiba that his next job would be to keep someone’s home tidy, he would’ve laughed in their face. Because why would anyone pay for something like that when they could do it themselves, right? And to be paid a ridiculous amount of money for said job on top of everything… So Aiba decided not to look the gift horse in the mouth. For once in his life, he got lucky to have an easy job (Well, once the current state of the apartment was cleaned up…); he got to live in a luxury apartment (It even had an in-house gym with pool and everything free for the residents and Sho even had Aiba signed to be allowed to use it!) and save the money he’d spend on rent and food. And having a handsome employer as Sho wasn’t bad either…

“Is that all you’re bringing?” Sho asked, motioning to the few bags and boxes piled up in Aiba’s soon-to-be former apartment’s entrance.

Based on their previous meeting, Aiba doubted that despite Sho’s offer to come and pick him and his stuff up, the man would actually show up. Aiba spent the last week already cleaning Sho’s apartment so he could move into the offered spare bedroom, and though Sho promised every day to be there and help him, he cancelled last minute every time. Not that Aiba expected him to hold his hand during the process or anything. They might be close in age, they might’ve had some friendly conversations, but in the end, he was hired to do a job here, so why bother blurring the lines, right? How attracted he was to Sho was pushing it already…

“I didn’t have much to begin with, even less that I’m really attached to,” Aiba answered, shrugging his shoulder. “And your place has practically everything. In better quality than any of my stuff…” he added with a grin.

Sho laughed out at that.

“I take that as a compliment”

“Sure you do…” Aiba replied with a grin.

“Anyway, let me take those for you, so we can go!” Sho said in such a gentlemanly manner that made Aiba’s chest flutter, and he gathered up all of Aiba’s boxes in one go and headed out of the building promptly.

Aiba’s heart made another excited, traitorous thump in his chest as he followed Sho…

Transitioning to this new life was less of a struggle than Aiba expected it to be. Sure, they say good things are easy to get used to, but it wasn’t just that. Aiba had never imagined himself as someone’s housekeeper, and it surprised him how much he actually enjoyed it. Keeping the place tidy, cooking for someone else than him. Especially for someone who enjoyed food as much as Sho did.

Not that he saw much of Sho during the first months. Sho was quick to turn back into a workaholic, leaving early and coming home late. Despite living under the same roof, they’d spoken mostly in text messages cause even calls rarely got through to Sho during his work hours.

On the rare occasions Sho happened to come home at a reasonable hour, they had dinner together and actually managed to slowly get to know more of each other, sharing stories (potentially embarrassing childhood memories included) as if they’d known each other for ages.

“A vet? Really, you wanted to be a vet instead of a chef?” Sho asked with an incredulous chuckle.

“Is it that hard to believe? I like animals,” Aiba said, as if it was a good enough explanation. “I was absolutely no good in any of the science classes so it went down from there…” he admitted with a bashful shrug. “Why, what did you want to be before you became a hot-shot business man?”

“Believe it or not, I wanted to be a rapper. I’ve written my own lyrics and everything,”

“Now you’re just making fun of me…”Aiba protested, laughing.

“No, it’s true. I had a pretty rebellious phase during high school and that’s when I wanted to become a rapper. I’ve died my hair blonde, wore tanktops with big gold chain necklaces and all that…” Sho declared and it was obvious that even twenty years later he was oddly proud of his teenage accomplishments.

“Please, tell me you have photos ‘cause I have a hard time seeing you as anything but a suit and tie guy,” Aiba said with a teasing grin.

“I feel like I should be offended by that statement…” Sho said, squinting his eyes.

“No, please don’t! You’re… really handsome in a suit…” Aiba mumbled blushing. “Are you done eating?... Good, I’ll go clean up!” he announced quickly and escaped to the kitchen with their used plates…

“Aren’t you gonna be late for work?” Aiba asked one morning after they’d finished breakfast.

It happened every now and then that they had breakfast together, but Sho mostly just breathed in whatever food Aiba put in front of him and then rushed off to work. Yet here he was, still lingering around in the kitchen, dressed in sweatpants and a white T-shirt with a colorful breast pocket.

“I decided to work from home today,” Sho announced with a wide, boyish grin.

“You just decided that?” Aiba asked back, looking at Sho confused. “Please excuse my lack of knowledge on this, I’ve never worked at a fancy company like yours but I don’t think that’s how it usually works…”

Sho chuckled and actually looked a little sheepish.

“No, you’re right. But things work a little different when you’re in the top management, and my family actually owns Sakura Enterprises…” Sho mumbled and avoided looking at Aiba.

“So, should I call you ‘young master Sho’, from now on?” Aiba asked, teasing him to hide his own insecurities. Their lives were worlds apart indeed, though Sho looked almost embarrassed about being the member of one of the wealthiest families in the country.

“Also, I have no meetings scheduled for today so it seemed like the best time to do it!” Sho said to change the topic.

“The best time to do what?” Aiba asked confused and stopped loading the dishwasher to look at Sho.

“For you to teach me how to cook!” Sho said matter-of-factly.

Aiba’s face immediately lit up with a bright smile. So Sho was serious about it!

“Okay! I’ll let you know when I’m about to make lunch and you can help me. How about that?”

A few hours later it turned out to be anything but okay…

“What are you doing, Sho-chan?!” Aiba cried out. “You’re gonna cut your own fingers that way!”

Aiba thought miso soup and rice balls would be an easy enough task for the first try. There was hardly anything to do for the soup: chop the ingredients, put them in the pot, and let it simmer. Easy, right?... Well, not with Sho, apparently. He was like a three-year-old, holding a knife for the first time in his life!

“Look, hold it like this…” he said, stepping behind Sho, adjusting his grip on the knife and carrot he was supposed to chop. “See, this way you won’t hurt yourself…” he explained while he guided Sho’s movements. He turned his head a bit to look at Sho, only to realize how close they actually were, his lips almost brushing Sho’s face. He took a hasty step back, hoping Sho was too engrossed in his attempt to do as Aiba told him to notice anything else. “You get it now, right?” he asked after clearing his throat nervously.

“Yeah, I get it…” Sho replied, obviously a hundred percent focused on his task and completely ignoring Aiba and his mild panic…

The rest of their cooking session went by without any more hiccups, mostly thanks to Aiba, who made sure to give Sho the easiest and safest tasks to do. Aiba also made sure to keep a safe distance between them. He was painfully aware that he managed to develop a huge crush on Sho during the past months that went beyond the fact that he found him good looking. Today he had to remind himself once more to be more careful or he’d fall for someone who was way out of his league…

“You did a good job, Sho-chan!” Aiba praised him when they finished lunch. The ingredients of the soup were cut unevenly and overcooked, and the rice balls were oddly shaped, but all things considered it was a decent first try for someone who hardly ever cooked before. “You keep practicing and you won’t ever have to worry about starving,” he added teasingly, though a rich guy like Sho was surely never in danger of starving. Sho’s drawer of take-out flyers told Aiba that much.

“Thanks, but I’m pretty sure it would’ve been a disaster without you. Me cutting that finger, burning down the kitchen… Really, the possibilities are endless!” Sho said grinning. “So, thank you for putting up with me! I… Uhh…”

Sho’s words were cut off by his phone ringing. He barely glanced at the caller ID with a pout before silencing it.

“Won’t you answer that?” Aiba asked before could rein in his curiosity.

“No,” Sho said firmly.

Sho looked annoyed and Aiba wasn’t sure if it was aimed at him for prying or at whoever was calling him. Either way, Aiba decided it was better if he didn’t push more. It wasn’t his business anyway. He started gathering their plates instead.

“It’s my mom,” Sho said suddenly. “She probably wants me to meet the daughter of yet another friend of hers. Being over thirty and unmarried is literally unacceptable in our position, according to her... So she’s been on this quest for years now to set me up. I’ve tried to play along at first but they’re all so… vain and shallow and uninteresting… They’re not even trying to cover the fact that they’re more excited about my wallet than me!… Mom doesn’t seem to understand that I’m not that interested in meeting women so… Yeah, I won’t answer it!” Sho finished his rant firmly and left Aiba alone in the dining room, gaping after him in shock…

Sho was either embarrassed for oversharing or his sour mood over his mom’s call lasted longer than expected, but the next morning he was gone before Aiba even woke up. He was also late in the evening, so Aiba assumed he was burying himself back in his work just like before. Ha had to admit that it was a bit lonely to be in the apartment alone again most of the day, but at least it reminded him he wasn’t there to be friends with Sho, but to work for him. So he would do just that, Aiba decided firmly.

It was easier in theory than in practice, as it turned out just a few days later…

“Welcome back, Sho-chan!” Aiba called as he heard the front door closing. “Do you want to… Ehm, hello?...”

At the entrance, instead of Sho, he found an elegantly dressed, elder woman. Considering her glaring resemblance to Sho and that she had a key to the place, Aiba guessed she must be Sho’s mother. It didn’t explain why she was there, though. Sho might be busy as always, but Aiba doubted he would forget to mention to him that his mother might stop by.

“Ah, please excuse my intrusion!” the woman said once she recovered. Clearly, she was just as surprised as Aiba. “I didn’t expect anyone to be here. Let me introduce myself, I’m Sho’s mother, Mariko. Nice to meet you and thank you for taking care of my son. He’s a bit of a slob but please keep him in your favor…” she said with a polite smile, bowing her head.

“I’m… uhh… Aiba Masaki…” Aiba mumbled, blushing deeply. It was obvious that Sho’s mom misunderstood his presence in Sho’s apartment, but she didn’t really look like she’d believe him if he tried to explain the situation to her. “Please, come in! I’m sure your son will be back soon…” Or at least he really hoped so. “I’ll make some tea for you…”

“Oh, no, no! I don’t want to cause any inconvenience. I just came to bring him this…” she said and handed a cream-colored envelope to Aiba. “His friend, Ninomiya-kun’s getting married, I’m sure you knew this already. The invitation was sent to our address by mistake probably. I’m glad I brought it personally otherwise who knows how long my son would’ve tried hiding you from me!... Have a nice day, Aiba-san!” she bowed one more time before leaving.

Aiba stood frozen at the entrance long after she left…

“You told my mother we’re dating?!”

Sho burst into the kitchen as soon as he got home, startling Aiba, who in turn dropped the dinner ingredients from his hands. He looked at Sho with wide eyes.

“I didn’t tell her that,” he protested weakly, but he looked guilty enough.

“Then would you care to explain why she called me saying she met my boyfriend and what a delight he is and we should have dinner with her next week?!” Sho crossed his arms over his chest and looked angrier than Aiba ever saw him.

“Well… She just showed up here and when she saw me, I guess, she just assumed that I must be your boyfriend. You just told me yourself the other day that you refused to entertain her blind dates for a while now, and I’m guessing you didn’t tell her that you hired a live-in housekeeper. You have to admit that her conclusion might’ve been right for all she knows! So here she was saying ‘thank you for taking care of my son’ and ‘please keep him in your favor’ and I froze, okay? Maybe if you told me that she might drop by without any notice, I might’ve been better prepared!” Aiba realized just then that he was practically yelling back at Sho. He took a deep breath to calm himself. “Anyway… I’m sorry, I’ve not corrected her immediately, but you can do that just as easily yourself. Just call her and tell her I’m just here to clean up after you…” Sho didn’t seem to be impressed by Aiba’s reasoning, but the frown on his face wasn’t that prominent anymore. “Or…”

“Or?” Sho asked raising an eyebrow.

“Or you can just let her think you have a boyfriend and then she won’t try to set you up anymore…” Aiba finished with a shrug and turned his attention back to preparing dinner. There really wasn’t more he could say to Sho. It was up to him now.

Sho was staring silently at Aiba’s back while he processed everything he said. He must be crazy to even consider having a pretend boyfriend just so he wouldn’t have to argue with his mother about his dating life. On the other hand… Aiba obviously didn’t mind, otherwise he wouldn’t suggest it, right? His mother was half-way in love with Aiba, or at least that was how she sounded on the phone, though it might mean nothing in her case… And he’d lie if he said he was against the idea of dating Aiba, even in this pretend capacity. He was good looking, funny, a great cook… Yeah, it wouldn’t be hard to pretend at all…

“So… you’d be fine with it?” he asked just to be sure. “If I don’t correct her now, she’d insist that I bring my boyfriend along to family events and social functions and whatever…”

Aiba shrugged again, hoping he looked nonchalant despite his loudly beating heart. It wasn’t his original intention but a little selfish part of him wanted to know what it would feel like to date Sho and this was probably the only chance he’d ever get, right?...

“Sure. I can’t imagine it’d be that hard but if it’d turned out to be more difficult than what either of us can handle, we can always just ‘break up’. Unless she wants us to marry next week, I don’t think it’d be something that can’t be easily undone…”Aiba said, keeping his eyes strictly on what he was doing.

“You sound way too calm about it…” Sho mumbled, and if Aiba hadn’t known better, he’d think Sho sounded disappointed. “But thank you, and I’m sorry for yelling at you…”

At this Aiba looked at him with a little smile.

“No problem… Wanna help me with dinner?”

“Are you really okay to do this?” Sho asked for the hundredth time.

They were standing in front of the restaurant where they were supposed to meet with Sho’s mother. Aiba couldn’t help but find this anxious side of Sho’s really adorable.

“It will be okay, Sho-chan. We talked it over, don’t worry. Let’s go, don’t make your mom wait any longer,” Aiba said, boldly taking Sho’s hand as they walked in. “Good evening, Sakurai-san! I hope you didn’t wait long,” Aiba greeted her with a charming smile as they were seated.

“Hello, mother!”

“Hello, boys! No problem at all. I took the liberty to place our orders while waiting, though…” she said with a smile.

“Of course you did…” Sho mumbled under his breath, but none of his companions seemed to hear him, or they simply ignored his comment.

“So, tell me, Aiba-kun, how did the two of you meet?” she asked.

“Really, mom? Can’t you wait with the interrogation?” Sho groaned. He would never get used to this side of his mother!

“Don’t be like that, Sho-chan. It’s not like it’s a secret,” Aiba said and patted Sho’s hand affectionately. “We’ve met at Ohno-san’s last gallery opening,” he said, turning his attention back to Sho’s mother.

“Oh, are you an artist like Satoshi-kun?” she asked excitedly.

“No, I’ve worked with the catering of the event,” Aiba answered according to the truth.

“Catering?” Sho’s mother repeated, and the pleasant smile disappeared from his face quickly.

“Yeah, mother, he was working with Jun-san. Nii-san’s boyfriend. They’re both chefs,” Sho cut in before his mother would say something disparaging to Aiba.

“Oh, a chef! How admirable!” she said smiling again. “Where’s your restaurant? I’d love to go there sometime…”

“Well, you can’t yet,” Sho answered before Aiba could even open his mouth. “Masaki’s about to open his own restaurant but it’s still a work in progress. But I’m sure he’ll invite you to the grand opening…”

Aiba just nodded and smiled, going along with Sho’s words. By now he started to get the feeling that whatever truth he’d like to keep in his words, he needed to make it grander to please Sho’s mom, so he did just that when she asked about his restaurant. As much as he’d love to have his own restaurant one day, he knew how much that would cost and that realistically speaking he’d never be able to save enough money to do it. But one could dream, right?...

By the time they finished with the appetizers, Sho’s mother seemed to be done with her interrogation and moved on to talk about the various events and interests of her acquaintances. It wasn’t the most fascinating topic for Sho or Aiba, but at least it didn’t require anything from them but humming every now and then. No wonder then that they were beyond relieved when the dinner was finally over.

“Mother, it was a pleasure, thank you for inviting us,” Sho said as they were waiting for her cab to arrive.

“It was my pleasure, son!” she said with a smile. “Oh, I almost forgot! There’s a fundraising event next week. I told them you’ll go as the representative of the Sakura Enterprises. I’ll email you the details tomorrow! Goodnight, boys!” she waved before she got in the cab.

Sho groaned loudly.

“Of course she left the surprise for the end… I hate those stuffy events…” Sho mumbled with a pout.

It was such an adorable sight that Aiba couldn’t help himself. They were still holding hands, which neither of them seemed to realize, nor did they bother to let go even after Sho’s mom’s departure, so Aiba tugged on Sho’s hand and pressed close to his side.

“Don’t be like that, Sho-chan! It might be fun. I’ve never been to a fancy fundraiser event. I’m sure you’ll charm the pants off of them! And I’ll be right there with you so if you need a break, just give me the sign and I’ll swipe you right away!” he said with a bright smile.

Sho stared at him stunned for a moment, their faces mere inches away from one another.

“You’re flirting with me…”

It was a statement rather than a question. Aiba paled, then a blush rushed to his face the next moment. He quickly let go of Sho’s hand and stepped away hastily. When there was appropriate distance between them, he cleared his throat awkwardly.

“No, of course I wasn’t. Just practicing my role as your pretend boyfriend,” he said and turned away to hail a cab for them. “But of course if you’d rather go to that fundraiser on your own, I’m sure we can come up with a good enough excuse...”

Aiba kept his eyes strictly on the cab closing in on their position, therefore he couldn’t see that Sho was pouting once again…

“Sho-kun, you’re here! Thank God!”

Ohno rushed to hug his cousin enthusiastically when he spotted him among the guests of the fundraiser. Jun trailed after him, looking more like the guardian of a toddler instead of the partner of a well-known artist.

Sho might’ve dreaded this event ever since his mother mentioned it but knowing that Ohno was here too, made him feel better. At least they could be miserable over it together, like they did during their childhood whenever they had to attend an event they didn’t want to.

“Nice to see you too, nii-san,” he said, patting Ohno’s back gently before letting him go. His cousin must’ve had a glass of champagne or two since they arrived, because he was far too giggly compared to his usual sleepy demeanor.

“Aiba-chan!” Ohno went to hug Aiba next. “Did you two come together?” he asked curiously.

“Well, yeah… kind of. But…” Aiba started but when Sho suddenly grabbed and squeezed his hand, he fell silent and looked at him.

Sho pulled him closer to whisper in his ear:

“We should probably not tell the truth to nii-san. He can’t be trusted with a secret. And if he drinks, all the guests will know about the whole charade within an hour!”

Aiba needed all his power not shiver as Sho’s hot breath tickled his ear.

“Sure, whatever you say…” he mumbled and let Sho do the talking for the moment, since he was too busy fighting back the blush from his face.

“Yeah, we started dating. It’s… quite recent…” Sho said smiling at Ohno and Jun, hoping he was convincing enough. “Actually, we owe you, probably. We met at your gallery opening after all!”

“Ah, I knew you had an ulterior motive! You didn’t care about cooking lessons, you just wanted to ask out Aiba-chan!” Ohno said chuckling. “Oh, I know! Let’s have a toast to you! We’ll be back in a sec!” Ohno said cheerfully, and dragged Sho to the bar.

“I can’t say I’m surprised,” Jun said musing aloud.

“Huh?” Aiba was too busy watching Sho’s tux-clad figure before it disappeared in the crowd and he almost forgot that Jun was still standing there next to him.

“He’s exactly your type.”

“I don’t have a type,” Aiba protested, but the blush returned to his face tenfold.

“Smart but dorky. That was always your type,” Jun retorted. “And based on what Satoshi told me about him, the two of you make quite a well-matched pair. I’m happy for you!” he said with a warm smile.

‘If only it was true…’ Aiba thought sadly, but he still managed to keep a smile on his face despite his gloomy thoughts.

The rest of the night turned out to be just as dull and taxing as Sho predicted it to be. Aiba did his best to excuse Sho one way or another when he noticed he started to get fed up with the empty chit-chat and bragging of the other guests. Working at an izakaya prepared him well enough to listen to other people’s self-centered monologues, keeping up a pretense without actually paying attention. And the grateful smile that appeared on Sho’s face every time was worth every minute of it…

The next day, when Sho stumbled into the kitchen yawning, clad in jeans and T-shirt, Aiba was waiting for him, practically vibrating with excitement.

“You’re not working today, right?” he asked as a greeting.

It was the middle of the week, and Sho might be a workaholic, but after the fundraiser event, his childish side won over sense of duty. (‘Anyway, who organizes such an event on a Wednesday?! Normal people need to rest the day after!’)

“Good morning to you too…” Sho stifled another yawn. “And to answer your question: no, I’m not working today. Why?”

“Great! Let’s go then!” Aiba said, smiling brightly. “We have to take your car, though…”

“And where are we taking my car?” Sho asked again once they were in the car, hoping to get an answer this time.

“A little surprise trip. When was the last time you had a chance to just relax and forget about work?” Aiba asked, taking his eyes off the road for a moment only to glance at Sho.

“Ages ago, probably” Sho admitted.

“That’s what I thought! So I decided to show you my Chiba!”

“Your Chiba?” Sho asked back, laughing.

“Yeah. I grew up there. It’ll take a while to get there so you can take a nap until then. I’ll wake you when we’ve arrived…”

Two hours later, Aiba was stopping in the harbor’s parking lot.

“Wake up, Sho-chan! I bet you’re hungry by now,” Aiba said with a grin.

“Starving actually,” Sho got out of the car, looking around curiously.

“I made a reservation,” Aiba said as they approached a small eatery.

“Ah, I love shellfish!” Sho cried out excitedly, bouncing on his feet when he saw the table and grill prepared for them with all kinds of shellfish. “How did you know?” he asked, looking at Aiba with an amazed expression on his face.

Aiba chuckled at that. Sho was adorable when he got all excited for food.

“I might not know you for all that long, but I picked up on it. You may not realize it, but you talk about your favorite food quite a lot. If you want to keep it a secret, you have to do a much better job,” he added with a teasing grin.

Sho was too excited to finally taste all the delicious food on display to be bothered by the teasing.

“Either way, I’m touched. Thank you, Masaki!”

While Sho jumped right in to try out every dish on the table, Aiba was busy trying to get his crazily beating heart under control. ‘Just because he said your name…’ he scolded himself mentally. He needed a few minutes before he could join Sho and enjoy their lunch…

“So, this is where you grew up?”

After they finished eating, the two of them headed out to the shore. Since it was a weekday, and beach season was still a month away, not another person was in sight. It was like the whole beach was reserved for only them. It sure was a first time feeling, even for Sho with his privileged life.

“Not this town exactly, but near-by. My parents had some fields, growing rice and vegetables…”

“Did you not want to take over after them?” Sho asked. He thought in farming communities it was still tradition for the younger generation to take over after the parents. Though a stray thought in the back of his mind whispered that he should be grateful for that, otherwise they probably never would have met.

“Well… yes and no…” Aiba said with a sad little smile. “It didn’t matter what I wanted, anyway. By the time I started high school we had more debt than income. My parents tried everything they could but… And after they died… I had to sell everything to clear those debts and that was the end of it…” Aiba finished curtly. “Sorry, I shouldn’t bother you with my depressing story… Not a great topic for a fun and relaxing day, right?” he added with a forced chuckle to lighten the mood.

Sho just shook his head and they walked silently for a while.

“Would you like to get it back? If you could…” Sho asked. “You said ‘yes and no’ before…”

Aiba was surprised that Sho wouldn’t let go the topic.

“I don’t usually dwell on ‘what ifs’, you know… But I once read about this self-sustaining restaurant. Almost everything on the menu came from the stuff they grow themselves… The menu is always changing, adjusted to whatever is in season at the moment… Once I thought I’d love to try that too…” he said with a shy smile. “Of course, it won’t ever happen, I know that. Do you have any idea how much money you’d need for it? Also, you’d need a lot of people. Not just the restaurant and kitchen staff, but people for the fields. There’s no way someone like me would be able to do that…”

“That’s not true!” Sho protested. “You’re really good with people. Last night alone was a great example of that! Everybody loved you, and those people love no one but themselves…”

Aiba blushed deep red at Sho’s compliment.

“I’ll pretend to believe you… Anyway, we should head back. It’s a long way back to Tokyo…”

Sho insisted to stop for dinner on their way home, that way Aiba wouldn’t have to bother with it once they’ve got back. ‘But that’s literally what you pay me for!’ Aiba reasoned, but Sho wouldn’t listen.

“Hey, Masaki!”

Sho grabbed Aiba’s wrist just as they entered the apartment. None of them bothered to switch on the lights, they were tired enough that they were about to head straight to bed when Sho stopped. He shuffled closer to Aiba.

“Thank you for today. I really enjoyed spending this time with you…” he said softly.

Aiba’s heart made an excited little thump at this.

“Anytime… I’m glad you had fun. Good night, Sho-chan…”

Aiba closed his room’s door behind himself softly, letting out a shaky breath. If Sho kept telling him things like that, it’d be really hard to keep his feelings in check. Maybe he should rethink this pretend relationship business. The line was getting blurred, and he didn’t even notice until now…

During the following weeks, Sho’s mother found various event to send them to as representatives of the family. Neither Sho nor Aiba were sure if it was because she was suspicious about them or because she was so proud of them that she wanted to show them off as much as possible. Whatever the reason was, they went and played their role. The weird thing was, it didn’t feel like pretense after a while.

The closeness they should’ve acted out in front of others only, slowly but surely slipped into their everyday life. Sho started to cut back his hours at the office. Every now and then, he came home with little presents like a pastry from a new shop that was trending recently or a bag of fancy coffee beans he received from a client, and every time he insisted that he wanted to share them with Aiba. Or he came home with a DVD of a movie, or the CD of a band after Aiba mentioned off-handedly that he never saw or heard it…

A week before Sho’s friend’s wedding, Aiba finally admitted to himself that he couldn’t do it anymore. He knew it was too late and he couldn’t walk away without getting his heart broken, but he wanted to spare himself any more torture…

“Hey, Sho-chan…” Aiba said after dinner one night. “I was thinking about it for a while… I had interviews with a few restaurants… I mean working for you is great and everything, and you really saved me back then, but I miss working in an actual restaurant and I feel like I’m taking advantage of your kindness lately…” Aiba rambled, strictly avoiding looking at Sho. “I think it’s time for me to move out. We’re pretty much done with your cooking lessons. You actually stopped making a mess of the whole place months ago, so I really feel like I’ve completed my job here!...”

“Oh…” Sho was obviously not expecting to hear this. “Yeah, sure, of course… I mean, you belong in a big, shiny kitchen to amaze everyone with your cooking…”

Aiba took a deep breath.

“We’ll have to stage a break-up or something. Restaurant work hardly leaves place for such a busy social life that your mother arranged for us in the past month… I’ll still accompany you to your friend’s wedding on the weekend as you already sent the RSVP for two people, but after that…”

“Yeah, sure, of course…” Sho repeated, tensely. “I have some work to finish tonight so… goodnight…”

For the rest of the week, Sho blatantly avoided Aiba. He all but moved into his office, and it increased Aiba’s guilt that he practically drove Sho out of his own apartment, but there was no changing that. Aiba doubted a simple ‘sorry’ would cut it, and even if Sho was angry at him now, he would get over it with time. After all, it was not like Aiba broke his heart or anything, right?...

“You look really handsome…” Sho greeted Aiba when he emerged from his room, all dressed up and ready for the wedding. “Let me just…” he mumbled and reached out to fix Aiba’s tie. “Now you look perfect…”

“Thank you… You look… very handsome too…” Aiba said. It wasn’t the first time he saw Sho all dressed up, but he never got tired of it. “Sho-chan, I…”

“Let’s go, we don’t want to be late!” Sho cut him off a bit tersely.

Aiba just nodded and followed him silently, reminding himself that, if Sho was angry at him, that was all his own doing, and that all their business, professional or otherwise, would end in a few days…

The good thing about a wedding is that if you’re not the happy couple or member of the immediate wedding party, nobody really cares about you. Well, anyone who’s not your friend.

“Are you okay, Aiba-chan?” Jun asked, sliding up next to Aiba while Sho and Ohno, as former schoolmates of the groom, went to take photos with the newlyweds.

“Hmm? What do you mean?” Aiba asked, putting on a wide smile.

Jun just raised an eyebrow.

“I mean you and Sho-san…” he said pointedly.

That made Aiba’s smile falter a little.

“We’re fine, don’t worry, Matsujun. It was just a stressful couple of days, that’s all…”

Jun still didn’t seem to be fully convinced, but he nodded.

“If you say so… But if you want to talk, you know where to find me…” he said, clapping Aiba on the shoulder. He’d known Aiba long enough to know that if he didn’t want to talk about something, he’d just clam up, no matter how many times he asked…

“Come, dance with me!”

The next time Aiba’s silent brooding was disturbed, it was by Sho himself.

“Wha…?” Aiba looked at him surprised.

“Come!” Sho repeated with a soft smile this time. “My mother said she’s worried we had a fight…”

At that, Aiba took Sho’s outstretched hand and followed him dutifully. He still had a role to play after all.

“I’ve been thinking a lot, since you said you’ll leave…” Sho said suddenly as they swayed gently to the music. “And I don’t want it”

“Don’t want what?” Aiba asked confused.

“I don’t want to break up with you. Actually, I want to date you for real this time. I wanted this since you took me to that trip to your Chiba, to be honest…” Sho admitted with a soft smile.

“You… Why would you want to date me? You have this grand life and I’m just a poor cook…” Aiba said shaking his head in disbelief.

Sho huffed, annoyed. Obviously, words were not enough to convince him. So, he slipped his hand to the nape of Aiba’s neck and pulled him in for a kiss. Aiba froze in shock for a moment before he melted into the kiss.

“There… And if you’re still doubting me, let me spell it out for you: I fell for you, Masaki!” Sho said with a smile, caressing Aiba’s face gently. Now that he had allowed himself to take this step, he wasn’t sure if he could stop touching Aiba any time soon.

“Me too…” Aiba whispered shyly.

“Good, otherwise the rest of this conversation would be really awkward…” Sho pulled Aiba off the dance floor to be able to talk in private. “I hope you didn’t accept any of those positions you mentioned”

“I’m still waiting for them to call back. Why?” Aiba asked back, confused.

“Good. I’ve found a place where you can make that restaurant you told me about. There’s this sweet old man, Inaba-san, who has this amazing farm, fields, buildings, everything. He had the people who helped him with the field work for years. Anyway, he wants to retire, so he’s looking to sell everything. The main house building could be converted into the restaurant itself… It’d be perfect for you!” Sho rambled, barely taking a breath. “We can go tomorrow so you can see it yourself!”

Aiba gaped at him, not believing his ears.

“You… What? You can’t do it! I can’t accept it! It’s a lot of money! I could never pay you back…” he protested though Sho was right, it sounded perfect. “What if I can’t make it work?...”

“Of course I can do it. Sorry if it’s not what you want to hear but I’m not doing this only because I love you. I’m a business man. I make investments. I considered the pros and cons. You’re an amazing chef, you have a unique idea and I’m sure it will be a big hit. And please accept that if you want something that I can give you, I not only want to, but will do it for you, okay?”

Aiba sniffed a little.

“Sho-chan… it’s too much. I don’t know what to say… Nobody ever did anything like this for me…” he whispered.

“Just say: thank you!” Sho smiled and pecked Aiba’s lips quickly. “And maybe let me be the first one to taste your dishes…” he added with a grin.

Aiba burst out laughing. He threw his arms around Sho’s neck, pressing his face into his neck.

“You’ll have your very own designated table! Thank you, Sho-chan! For everything…”