Work Text:
A laptop. He needs a laptop.
Saiki figures it out when he gets home after school and stares at a homework assignment he was handed in class that reads he has to put together an online presentation. It’s a hassle enough that he has to present what he researches, but more so that he needs a laptop to do so. And this sudden development of his no-laptop status quickly brings to mind what he needs: money.
100-yen-man is ready to do anything for a bit of cash in his pockets, but it’s as he’s putting on his stylish glasses that he realizes no one is home. Grandparents are the next thought, but it’s squashed as he remembers the previous time and all the things his grandfather had him doing. Ugh. No bother—he has someone else to resort to.
He knocks on the door with a heavy fist, and from the other side, he can hear a voice call through the house, “Kusuo? Is that you?” There’s the banging of something falling, and then someone running into a wall, before Nendo flings open his door. His shoes are tied on the wrong feet, respectively, and his shirt is rucked up his back. He finally looks up, and his eyebrows furrow. “Hey, you’re not Kusuo.”
“Clearly not,” 100 yen-man says sarcastically. “Let me in.”
“Why would I let a stranger into my house?”
Right. Nendo’s so hot, Saiki forgets he’s an idiot.
“Kusuo sent me.” There’s no way that’s going to work. Saiki worries his inner lip between his teeth, watching Nendo stare at him with wide eyes.
“Okay.”
That response alone tells Saiki he needs to teach Nendo about not letting random people into his house, but that’ll be for another time. He’s lucky enough to slip between the door and Nendo’s body, adjusting his glasses on his face and finally confronting the reason why he’s here.
Nendo nods as he scratches his head. “So I give you money for things you do for me?”
“Sure. Put it that way.”
“And you need it for a laptop?”
Why so many questions? “Yes. Just tell me if you have any chores or something.” Saiki takes a look around Nendo’s house, which is just as spotless as it usually is, and figures this might be harder than expected. “I can do bigger jobs for 1000 ye —”
“Here’s, uhhh, 8000. Let’s go get ramen.”
Eight... eight thousand yen? Does he just have this lying around to give out? Sure enough, Nendo’s holding the money out with an unbothered look, like it’s a measly 10 yen coin. “You’re just going to give this to me?” Saiki asks skeptically.
“No, idiot! I’m giving it to you, and then you’re getting ramen with me. Though, wait a minute... I was supposed to get ramen with Kusuo tomorrow. Do you think he’d mind? Maybe I should call him.”
“Don’t call him,” Saiki warns, but in an instant, his phone rings in his back pocket. He lets out a frustrated sigh and pulls it out to answer Nendo’s call in front of him. It’s never simple with the man around.
“Kusuo! I know we were meant to get ramen tomorrow, but this new buddy just showed up and I want to take him out for ramen. Is that cool?”
“Why would I care?” Saiki asks, staring at Nendo’s oblivious face.
“Because you’re my boyfriend.”
Oh. Is that how it’s supposed to go? Saiki really wouldn’t care less, but there’s this feeling bubbling in his chest when he realizes Nendo is being sincere. “You’re allowed to take whoever you want to get food.”
“Uh, maybe. I just wanted to ask you so you knew. Can’t have my partner thinking I’m replacing him!”
I would never think that, Saiki wants to say, because Nendo’s one large loaf of care and love and stupidity, but he instead nods and kills the line. Nendo looks back at 100-yen-man and gives him the OK.
“So, buddy, why do you need money? Is this like a door-to-door thing? Why do you look a lot like my boyfriend?”
Saiki makes sure that Nendo doesn’t hit his head on the way into the small, local ramen shop, and he calls for their table as Nendo spews his questions. He pointedly ignores the last one.
“No. I only do this with friends and family.” He isn’t stupid enough to ask strangers for money like Chono or such. “I need the money for a laptop. For school.”
“Ohhh, okay, okay. Those get pretty expensive, huh? What, like five thousand yen?”
Saiki has to stop from slamming his face into the table. “Try a hundred thousand.”
“Woah! That could buy a ton of ramen!” Their regular order comes around (that’s what happens when they visit the same restaurant every other day,) and Saiki is kind of grateful for the meal. He’d been so busy throughout the day to actually stop and eat, and Nendo’s company and boasting laugh is relaxing and routine. “Why don’t you just get a job?”
Huh... that’s not a horrible idea. Saiki has no idea why he’s never thought of it. Mundane work like that, when he can mostly just do things for himself, hasn’t crossed his mind until now. Before that, his allowance from his parents and his 100-yen-man idea always came in clutch.
“I did it once. I could get you this job at the supermarket I worked at.”
Saiki remembers that, but Nendo doesn’t know 100-yen-man was there. He doubts the owner would like to see Nendo’s face again after the havoc he wreaked working there. “I’ll pass on that one. But a job isn’t a bad idea... maybe I’ll look for one. Ah, but I don’t really have people skills.”
He means to say he can’t risk having his powers revealed, and also that he hates the idea of working with people, he hates people in general, but it comes out like that instead. For obvious reasons.
“You don’t need ‘em! There are tons of jobs where you don’t have to talk to a single person. You could stock shelves or be a driver for a pizza delivery place. That way you only have to say, like, three words. Here, let’s pretend.” Nendo adjusts the way he’s sitting and throws his napkin on his head. “Pretend I’m a customer asking where the onions are: Hey, you there! Where are the onions?”
“I don’t think someone is going to be calling me out saying ‘you there.’”
“Just answer the question,” Nendo pouts.
“Fine. They’re over there.” Saiki points vaguely to his left.
“Which aisle?”
Which aisle? What is this, a trivia TV show? Saiki furrows his brows and envisions a supermarket. “Uh, aisle three?”
Sure enough, Nendo buzzes his lips like an ‘incorrect’ sound effect.“Wrong! They’re in the produce section.”
Saiki scowls so deep that Nendo’s napkin falls off his head. “Aren’t you supposed to be helping me?”
“Okay, so maybe stocking isn’t for you. Let’s do pizza delivery.” Saiki rolls his eyes, and Nendo throws the napkin back on his head. They sit in silence for a second while Saiki waits for Nendo to make a move. “Uh, buddy, you’re supposed to knock.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Well, how am I supposed to know my pizza is here if you don’t knock?”
Saiki, once more, stops from diving headfirst into his ramen bowl. “Can I use the doorbell?”
“I don’t have a doorbell,” Nendo argues, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world that Nendo is still supposed to be Nendo in this fake, role-play scenario.
“Ugh, fine! I’ll knock.” Saiki knocks lightly on their table, just once, to not draw attention. He waits for a minute for Nendo to open the door, and then another, and then he quickly realizes the man isn’t planning on going along with this scene. “Hello?”
“I didn’t hear you knock.”
“Holy,” —Saiki takes a deep breath, to stop himself from leaning over the table and strangling Nendo—, “Okay. I’m knocking again.” This time around, he knocks extra-loud, and Nendo beams wide at him, pretending to swing the door open.
“Hi!”
“Hi. I have your pizza.” Saiki doesn’t have anything in his hands, so he holds up his napkin, as if it’s a box.
“That’s a napkin.”
“Nendo.”
“Oh, right! Uh, thank you. How much?”
“1600 yen.” They mimic a trade off of the napkin and the money, which goes smoothly enough at a lunch table, and Nendo’s giving him a reassuring smile when he pulls the napkin off his head again.
“You see! That’s totally your thing. You could get a job working deliveries, and then make money! That way, you can take your friends out for ramen. Just like how I did for Kusuo! Now that I have a job, I can take him out a whole bunch to the arcade! But he doesn’t like the noise, so we go on weekdays, when it’s less busy. Then I can work more on the weekends.”
Wait. Wait wait wait. Nendo has a job? Saiki had seen him in a working position before, and it wasn’t quite the prettiest thing, but he was curious about how Nendo seemed to afford their dates. And the fact that he went out of his way to go with him on the weekdays... Saiki did mind the noise, but he thought it was just convenient for Nendo’s schedule. Knowing that it was for him made him feel almost guilty for not realizing sooner. That’s what happens when you can’t read your idiot boyfriend’s mind—you wind up surprised at all the little things he admits.
“Buddy? You okay?” Nendo asks, snapping Saiki from his thoughts.
“Oh. Yeah. Uh, just remembered I have to go somewhere.”
“Oh, okay! Tell me how the job search goes,” Nendo offers with a kind smile, making it feel even weirder for Saiki to be sitting there with him while he doesn’t know who he is. He reaches for his wallet, but Nendo stops him. “I told you it was my treat! Go on. I’ll see you around later!”
You forgot to get his number, Saiki thinks to himself, knowing if he were really just a friend Nendo made, the man would’ve forgotten to ask for any of his socials. Luckily, that isn’t the case, so he walks out of the restaurant and recalls what Nendo had confessed to him. He’s sure it wasn’t some big secret, either, but... it was nice to hear it, too. That Nendo did that for him.
I should do something nice for him.
It’s a week later when Saiki walks into his classroom and sits himself in front of Nendo. A few of their friends wrap up their conversation with him so he can turn to Saiki, and when they do, they lurk just close enough to hear whatever Saiki has to say. It’s not often he comes in with a statement so early in the morning.
“Pal!” Nendo greets, because he still calls Saiki that annoyingly cute nickname despite the fact that they’ve been dating for months. “What’s up?”
“I got a job.”
His friends don’t do a good job at hiding their gasps. “Really?” Kaido chimes in, before Nendo can say anything, “Where? Why? Let me guess, you’re trying to infiltrate the Dark Reunion through the gover—”
Aren gives him a soft hit to his head. “It’s probably nothing like that. Let me guess. You got it so you could slowly save up to rent out a building you can have secret meetings in with your followers.”
“How are those two any less ridiculous from each other?” Saiki deadpans. “And no, I got it because I needed a laptop.” He pulls out his brand new laptop, afforded after more 100-yen-man work and the first few days of his new job. The three boys around him ooh and ahh at the device, and he slides it back in his bag.
“What job did you get?” Nendo finally asks, which makes Saiki feel almost nervous. He knows he owes it to the man for giving him the idea, and for helping him feel more comfortable in getting the job.
“I’m a pizza delivery-man.” He half-swore he wouldn’t overuse his powers when he got a job, but it’s easy to make tips when he can simply teleport between houses. He accidentally made a name for himself among coworkers, though, so he stopped doing it too much. “The license I got with Kaido and Aren surprisingly came in handy.”
“I told you that was a good idea!” Aren cheers. “But congrats man, for real. Now you can do a bunch with your paycheck.”
“Yeah, what else are you going to do with your money?” Kaido questions—he’s been struggling to get a job, between the prep-school and his inability to carry heavy things—looking excited. “What are you gonna buy?”
“That’s what I want to talk to Nendo about. You two, shoo.” Their relationship wasn’t a secret, but it wasn’t very public, either. Nendo just has a knack for PDA, and Saiki doesn’t mind the way Nendo shields him from having to socialize. His friends look slightly dejected as they walk away, but Saiki knows they’ll be fine.
“What’s up, pal?”
“Do you want to... go on a date this weekend?” It was almost mortifying for Saiki to get the question out, because he was nearly always quiet about this kind of thing—letting Nendo lead him along to where he wanted to go and the likes—and had only recently convinced himself to be brave enough to set up a date. “I realize we don’t do a lot of stuff on the weekends, even though more things are open.”
There was just one last thing: praying Nendo could take the weekend off of work. That way, Saiki would fully be able to treat him without having his boyfriend stress about it.
“Really!?” Nendo shouts, excited. “Of course! You don’t have to ask!”
He kind of does, because Nendo needs to work out his schedule, but the sentiment is there, anyway. “Will you be free?”
“I’ll clear my schedule for it! What, this Saturday?” Saiki gives him a nod. “Okay! Where do you want to go?”
“Wherever you’d like. It’s a date for you. And I... have some money.” He doesn’t mention the little bit that Nendo had lended him before, nor the fact he feels a bit guilty for letting him pay for their ramen all the time. “Choose whatever you want to do.”
“I got it! Then, I’ll text you when I figure it out!!!” He doesn’t ask before he leans forward, grabs Saiki’s face, and places a kiss right on his lips. Saiki feels his face heat, but convinces himself there’s nobody staring at them. Nendo’s happy, too, and Saiki’s proud that his idea was a hit.
“I’m glad you’re excited,” he admits quietly.
“It’s only good if you’re excited, too.”
“I am.”
Nendo kisses him again, just once before their homeroom bell rings, and Saiki turns and heads for his desk with a pleasant feeling at his fingertips.
He gets the text only a day later, on Tuesday, linked with a website to the local aquarium not too far from the city. Nendo’s message below reads, “we can get dinner in the city after,” with about ten different fish and heart emojis. He sends a selfie a second later of his lips puckered like a fish. Saiki nearly laughs out loud at the image, just because Nendo looks ridiculous and cute all at once, and the place he picked is near perfection. Aquariums aren’t half as loud as any other place, and when there are a lot of people, most of them are just gasping at the sea life. Besides, fish are quite pleasant and kind, so, what’s there to lose?
He simply hearts the message with the aquarium’s link, thumb-ups the ‘for dinner’ message, and then takes a picture of his face, half in the corner of his screen, to reply to Nendo’s selfie. “Sounds good,” he responds, no matter how badly he wants to say ‘perfect.’
The school week goes by easily, with a ramen date on Wednesday, like usual, and Saiki working after school on both Thursday and Friday. Between classes, they decide on which restaurant they want to go to, and Saiki sets up the reservation while Nendo decides what he’s going to order. Nendo kisses him again before they part after school on Friday, and he’s beaming this pearly-white smile that really convinces Saiki there’s nothing like making him happy.
He didn’t think he’d be the sappy kind, and trust him, he isn’t, but... being soft with Nendo comes easier than excepted. It’s the mix between the comfort, having known each other for so long, and the excitement of getting to hold and touch and be with someone who gets him, even if it’s not always. Nendo’s too accepting, too good at giving hugs, too good at kissing and taking him out and making him enjoy himself in places he usually wouldn’t. But enough of that! Right now, he needs to pick his date outfit.
Most times, their dates are right after school, because that’s when they have the most time, so he’s only used to wearing his school uniform out. Now, though, he’s going to the aquarium, and what’s someone supposed to wear to something like that? There’s only one person who has the answer, and he dreads calling her over, and even more so when she shows up at his door with an aggressive smile.
“You’re asking me for fashion advice!!!” Teruhashi exclaims, bursting into his room, all too familiar with the layout of his house. His friend is the opposite of nonchalant, running to his closet and sorting through the hangers. “I’ve been waiting for this day forever. You’re not too shabby when it comes to casual clothes, but I definitely have a lot to work with—”
“Kokomi, it’s just a date.” Even so, he knows she knows that it’s a bit more, because he wouldn’t have called her over otherwise.
“You guys have been on plenty of dates, but this one is different, isn’t it? Spill,” she demands, pulling out some clothes from drawers and making it look like a boutique threw up on his floor.
“It’s nothing.”
“Tell me.”
Ugh. He hates how perceptive she can be. “I asked him out this time.”
“Oh? That’s a rare occurrence, hm?” she sings, still facing away from him. Eventually, she pulls out a jacket. “This is cute! It’s going to be cold. Anyway, go on.”
“He told me... well, he didn’t know it was me, but that’s besides the point. He told me that he chooses date spots that won’t bother me, because he knows I don’t like loud spaces.”
“Okay?” she asks, and hands him a sleeveless, black turtleneck. “Try that on.” She turns away as he strips off his shirt and throws on the new one. “I mean, are you surprised by that? You guys are dating, aren’t you? He wouldn’t make a very good boyfriend if he didn’t take your feelings into consideration. That shirt looks cute, totally wear it.”
“It’s not that,” he complains as she helps him into a jacket he’s only worn once or twice, “it’s that I feel... bad? He’s always supportive and going out of his way for me. I feel like I haven’t done the same.”
“But haven’t you? A good relationship wouldn’t be a good one if it weren’t mutual. You tell me all the time about how you play video games he likes, and you help him study. You like him, and care about him, even if you pretend you don’t all that much. So don’t worry about it, Saiki!” She turns him to face the mirror, and his outfit is as comfortable as it is fashionable, which makes him regret calling her over less. That, and the advice.
“I... I guess you’re right.” He lets out a sigh, and she winks at him.
“You’ve got this. If you like him, and he likes you, it’s enough! And I know you don’t do things you don’t want to do. Enjoy yourself on this date, alright? You look hot!”
“Don’t flirt with me,” he says, unimpressed.
“Not flirtinggg,” she giggles, flopping onto his bed. He isn’t sure when he grew so comfortable with her—somewhere between getting together with Nendo and her heavy-support-zero-jealousy reaction—but he is thankful for her help when it comes to relationships. If only she would take her own advice every now and then. “Go ahead! I’m going to stay here ‘till your mom gets back so we can watch some TV dramas.”
“And stop flirting with my mom,” he says as he leaves the room, feeling a flying pillow hit his back when Teruhashi laughs. He grabs his house keys on the way out, adjusts his collar, and reminds himself that this is just a date with Nendo. The guy he’s been seeing for months, his literal boyfriend, it’s no different than their other dates, aside from the day, and the location, and what he’s wearing, and how he feels. Okay, so maybe it’s a lot different. That’s fine. He’s got this, like Teruhashi said.
When he sees Nendo, he greets the man with a kiss, despite not doing so very often. It’s just a mix of the nerves and seeing Nendo in something other than his uniform; a pair of nice-fitting jeans and a t-shirt with a colorful design thrown across it. If Saiki notices that his breath smells a little mintier, or that his blonde streak in his hair is slicked up a bit neater, he doesn’t blush. He doesn’t!
“Hey, hey!” Nendo says when he pulls back from the kiss, smiling like a child. “You ready to see some kick-ass fish?”
“Please don’t call them kick-ass fish,” Saiki laughs, “I doubt they’re hardly kicking any ass stuck behind glass.”
“Yeah, well, I’m sure those sharks are gonna be cool, just watch.”
They eventually interlock hands on the walk there, a pleasant half an hour in the chill of early-spring wind, and Saiki ignores the way Teruhashi blows up his phone asking for picture. Nendo stops to pick a flower from a bush at one point, before Saiki quickly swats his hand away tells him how it’s poisonous, and no, Nendo, you can’t pick random flowers off the side of the road.
Saving his boyfriend from a skin infection is the only lump along the way, and then they arrive at the aquarium. It’s got a good amount of people in the main room, but not huge crowds, and there’s ambient, white-noise sounding music coming from all around. The further they go in, the darker it gets, until the room splits up into different lit-up hallways with plaques explaining where they lead.
“Where to first?”
“I want to see those sharks!” Nendo cheers, but when his voice echoes, he whispers an “oops” that makes Saiki outright smile and tug him towards the shark hallway. It’s filled with pictures and explanations of historical moments for shark discovery, and then opens up to a huge room with ceiling-high tanks covering the walls for quite a ways down. “Woah! This is so cool!”
Saiki looks around with an excitement almost on par with Nendo’s, taking in the neon colours coming from the tanks surrounding them. There’s an array of different small-to-medium-sized sharks, including horn sharks, catsharks, and leopard sharks swimming around. Saiki’s intrigued mostly by the lollipop catshark shark found at one of the closer tanks, and, still holding Nendo’s hand, walks over to it.
“Woah!!!” Nendo says again, for about the fifteenth time, and Saiki looks at him with a smile.
“Is it cool?” he asks, to make sure, but Nendo’s face is already plastered on the glass, nose smushed as he stares at the lollipop catshark lurking at the bottom of the water.
“Look at this cool guy! He’s such a silly fellow, hahah,” Nendo snorts against the glass, fogging it up. “I wonder what he’s doing.”
Saiki looks over at it for a moment and focuses on its thoughts. ‘I can’t wait for dinner. This water is so cold. So so cold. So cold. So cold. Can’t wait for dinner.’ Figures. Aquariums are fine, but some of the fish don’t seem too pleased with their home. Saiki just ignores it, focusing on all the excited noises Nendo’s making, jamming his finger to the glass to point.
“Hey, Kusuo, let’s check out over there next!”
And, of course, it’s no surprise that Saiki follows wherever Nendo goes. He isn’t sure exactly why—why he blushed when Nendo first made it clear, why he blushed when he first made it clear, everything that happened after—but it’s easy to get lost with him. He’s like a gentle giant and stupid idiot and best friend all packed into one, warm person.
They wind up in the gift shop, naturally, and Nendo touches every other thing on the shelves and Saiki stares at the shark gummies by the checkout line. He’s called over after he picks a bag of them for the road, and Nendo holds up two identical onesies.
“Look! They’re shark pajamas!” Nendo shoves them up in Saiki’s face. “Feel how soft they are. There’s one in your size too.” He shows the medium-sized onesie to Saiki, and the price tag at the same time, and Saiki grabs both hangers out of Nendo’s hands.
“Do you... want these?”
“Do you?” Nendo asks back. Saiki feels the texture again, how soft and fluffy they are, and thinks about his pillow fights with Nendo, and running his hands through his hair, and all the stupid shit he does when he isn’t thinking.
“Yeah.”
“Then let’s get them!”
“I’ll pay.”
“I’ll treat dinner, then.”
Saiki shakes his head as he purchases the three items. “No, I already told you. This is your date.”
“Hm... whatever you say Kusuo. Let’s eat!”
They get to the restaurant, and Saiki calls for his reservation before realizing just how fancy the place is. It’s cheap enough for a working high-school student, but he still feels under-dressed for the environment. Nendo slides into the booth with relaxed comfort, though, and Saiki eases up.
They both already know what they want, so they order from the get-go and make small talk while they wait for their meal. Ramen for Nendo, a sushi platter for Saiki, neither of which the other minds stealing a bite of. “That aquarium was so cool! And the x-rays!!!”
“Stingrays,” Saiki corrects. They had spent a while by the open area where you could pet the stingrays floating around, even if they were the only two high schoolers there, the rest being little kids with their parents or old couples. But Nendo is right, it was nice. More than. Saiki didn’t expect to enjoy himself so much, and he knows it was only so good because his boyfriend was there. He looks down at the extra menu left at the table even though he doesn’t plan to order another drink.
“You feeling okay, Kusuo?”
Damn it, what’s with everyone around him being so perceptive.
“Yes,” he says, taking a sip of his drink and avoiding eye contact.
“Is something bugging you?”
“No, not bothering me. I just,” he sighs, remembering the whole thing about being honest, about talking about the things he thinks because while he can read others’ minds, others can’t read his. “I had a lot of fun today. I liked taking you out. And I appreciate all you do to make me comfortable.”
“Of course I want to do that, Kusuo! I care about you, y’know?” Nendo says it likes it’s so unbelievable obvious, like all the sweet gestures and the kindness comes easy to him, when Saiki knows that’s not usually the case with him and affection. He’s hard to love. He’s difficult and stubborn and doesn’t talk about things.
And yet here Nendo is, acting like he’s ridiculous for saying that he’s grateful, because why wouldn’t Nendo love him?
Love. Does he love me? Do I love him?
Okay, back up, too much thinking for one night. All that matters is eating his meal and enjoying his boyfriend’s company. Those questions can come... later.
Thankfully, before he can make a fool of himself, their food is placed in front of them, and he digs in without worrying about the other pair of chopsticks stealing a few rolls, because he steals some noodles right back. Nendo pauses halfway through their mostly-quiet meal (the food is really good) and seems to ponder something.
“You know, I met this guy last week, remember when I called you?”
Oh no. “Yeah.”
“He looked a lot like you. And he ordered the same thing you ordered when we went out to ramen.”
Oh, no. “Really?”
“Hey, Kusuo...”
He’s screwed. Nendo figured it out.
“Do you have a twin brother?”
Nevermind. He’s an idiot.
“No,” Saiki says quickly, and veers to change the topic. Lying would make it harder to pretend he has a twin, and focusing on the fact that someone that looked exactly like him talked to Nendo was too hard to explain. “Do you want to go fishing one day?”
It was the only thing that came to mind for him.
“Fishing?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m down! I don’t know how to fish, though.”
“Neither do I.”
Ah. Awkward silence.
“But we could play a fishing video game!” Nendo proposes, and that eases Saiki again.
“That sounds good.” He leans his cheek into his open palm and pokes at his unagi. Nendo downs the rest of his ramen, leaving them to talk while Saiki finishes up his sushi and promptly shoves the spiraling questions right out of his mind. Love isn’t something he’s associated with, and not something he wants to be. It’s hard and complicated and makes no sense and yet he thinks about it the second he thinks about Nendo, and his hands and his smile and his voice.
“Kusuo? Dessert?” Nendo’s voice finally comes to him through the static in his head. “You usually pop up when you hear that word.”
“I’m not a dog.”
“Are you sure nothing more is on your mind?”
Saiki screws his eyes shut and shakes his head. “Nothing.” When he opens them, Nendo is looking at him with a softened gaze, and it drives him to stand right out of his seat, startling his boyfriend. He leans forward and places a kiss square on Nendo’s lips, and then sits back down, swiping for the dessert menu to hide his face. His heart is beating rapidly and he stops it from skipping in a blink, staring at the rows of desserts and not processing any of it.
He peaks over the edge of his menu, and Nendo is smiling like a fucking dork in love. Love, love, love. God, he’s so far gone.
“You usually don’t kiss me in public unless I kiss you first.”
“Yeah, well... you finished all the ramen.” He glances at the menu. “I’m getting the chocolate cake.”
“Is there another dessert you want? I’ll get that one and we can split.”
Saiki wants to drive his head into the table and beg that Nendo stop being so charming, so considerate, just for a minute so he can stop himself from what he’s feeling, but he bites his cheek and murmurs, “The strawberry cheesecake?”
“Strawberry cheesecake it is!”
Saiki’s still appalled at himself, so Nendo orders their desserts, and they sit in comfortable-not-so-comfortable silence. After a moment passes, Nendo’s foot bumps Saiki’s under the table. “Kusuo.”
“What?”
“Thanks for taking me out today.”
“You idiot. I told you I would.” Teruhashi’s words come to mind at that moment. “You’re my boyfriend. And I also...”
Love you?
“...care about you. A lot.”
Nendo, ever the man, ever the gentleman, ever the idiot, bumps Saiki’s foot again and blows him a kiss that’s entirely too sweet for Saiki’s heart to handle. And speaking of sweets, here comes his dessert.
“Here, try a bite of the cheesecake,” Nendo offers, holding up a spoonful of the cheesecake and holding it towards Saiki’s face.
“I can feed myself.”
“Yeah, but this is what couples do! Come onnnn,” Nendo gives him an award-winning smile, and Saiki rolls his eyes and opens his mouth. He bites the spoonful and positively melts at the sweetness of the strawberry’s sauce and the rich cheesecake’s flavor. Nendo tries it right after and audibly groans at how good it is, something Saiki can only agree with.
And the rest of the night is easy. Saiki pays without worrying too much about his wallet, his stomach full and mouth still tasting of the cake slices he and Nendo split. The night is chilly when they walk out, and Saiki is thankful for the jacket, but Nendo seems unfazed.
“Do you want to take the train back? It’s a long walk, and it’s pretty dark,” Nendo mentions. Saiki isn’t too accustomed to public transportation, seeing as he teleports to where he needs to be, but with Nendo there, he agrees to take the quick ride home. They shove in close together on the train, couples and groups of friends alike taking the ride home from the Saturday-date endeavors, and Nendo wraps his arm around Saiki’s waist when another crowd pours in a stop before their own. He has half a mind not to get carried away, but leans into Nendo’s side anyway, and listens to the man’s heart through his shirt.
It’s darker and chillier back on the streets home, so they stay close the walk to Saiki’s house.
“Don’t want to stay the night?” Saiki pokes fun, because Nendo’s never one to joke about wanting to stay over whenever he drops Saiki off.
“You know I always do!” Nendo immediately harps. “I just figured I should stop asking in case it got annoying.”
Saiki looks between Nendo and his house for a second, not saying anything. Nendo is quick to realize, something that Saiki hates, because he can never predict when it’ll happen.
“Do you want me to stay the night?”
God, screw it. This hell-hole of thoughts is going to continue whether Saiki wants it to or not.
“Just... get in before I change my mind.”