The sun is setting while Kahaku is cooking over the stove in the kitchen. The area is laid out with yellow painted walls. A small 'L' shaped countertop that stops by the stove he's currently working at, which leads to the fridge. Messy pots are thrown about the sink as he carries the pot to one of the few bowls left standing. A dark thick glob pours out of the dish, and the scent coming from it alone says enough.
"I messed up again." Cooking definitely isn't a strong suit of his. Most things don't come out edible, even when that something is as simple as soup over the stove. He wants to be able to fix a homecooked meal for his brother sometimes. He lets out a sigh as he dumps the unknown substance in the nearby trashcan. While he is preparing to start again there is a knock on the door. "Sho, could you get that?"
Sho is on the couch playing a videogame on his PS4, or more theirs though Kahaku never uses it. He continues to play as if Kahaku hasn't spoke at all. He knows Sho isn't moving towards that door one bit, and he's a few feet from it. Once he gets into his gaming mode it's nearly impossible to get him to do anything. "Megumi said she might stop through today!"
This is enough to get him to put the game on pause, and go answer the door. On the other side stands Natsume in one of his usual disguises. Startled by the strange man standing in front of him the boy stumbles back, and falls flat on his bottom. Natsume lowers his sunshades a little getting a closer look. "Sho...is that really you?"
"H-How do you know my name?"
"Look at how much you've grown. You don't recognize me? Maybe this will help you out." He removes his disguise with a smile, and realization sinks in as Sho eyes widens.
"...Natsume?"
Kahaku walks in from the kitchen. "Sho, who is it? Natsume!" With that declaration Sho jumps up and quickly hides behind Kahaku. Natsume lets himself in closing the door behind him.
"Surprised?"
"Yeah, what are you doing here?"
"I was just passing by so I thought I would drop in and say hi. You remember me now, right Sho?" The boy eyes narrow and he shoots past him down the hall to his room. "I guess he still hates me, huh?"
The door slamming shut is answer enough. "Well, you did use to pull pranks on him all the time."
"It wasn't that often, was it?" More than he may realize. He use to do pranks on Sho any chance he would get when they were kids. Jumping out of the hamper, or scaring him when he opened the closet door, were almost daily tricks he pulled. He's sure he meant no ill will behind it. To him they were just having a little fun, but Sho definitely never felt that way.
"What a cute apron you're wearing." He says examining the cat print apron he has over his clothing. A light blush comes over his face as he adverts his eyes towards the kitchen.
"Oh, I'm just finishing up dinner. Have you eaten?"
Following him in the dining room that has hard wooden floors and a white table set. Kahaku checks on the food before bringing dishes from the cabinet so they can set the table. "So Sho is still into videogames?"
"More now than before."
"Is he visiting? Your uncle probably had to force him here, didn't he?"
Kahaku slows putting down the silverware. He hasn't had much time to catch up with Natsume on what happened in the past five years they've been apart. "Actually my uncle got really sick three years back, and passed away a little over a year ago."
An awkward silence fills the air as they finish the table. "I'm sorry..."
He is the one who invited Natsume to stay and eat with them. He doesn't want to put a damper on the mood.
"It's fine, like I said before he was sick for awhile, so his death wasn't shocking. He got to be in pretty bad shape, so I think he's resting more peacefully now. This really isn't my place but my cousin on my mother's side. He took custody of us so we didn't end up in the system. He's never really home much though. Even now he's out on work related business for awhile, having it just Sho and me. I'm trying to save up money to get a home of my own."
"So you've been living here in Kyoto for over a year now?"
"Yup, I didn't realize my mother had family that lived here. We moved right after the funeral."
"That's crazy, I can't believe you were living here all this time and we never ran into each other. I assumed you only moved a few months ago when you debuted."
"No I've been in this city a lot longer than that. It is weird we never bumped into each other..." he mumbles, though really that's not fully the case. There's been times where Natsume was performing and he wanted to stop by one of his shows, but just couldn't bring himself to. He was scared of seeing him to find out Natsume forgot who was, or worse had remembered but didn't want to be bothered. He's sure Natsume could have tried to see him too if he dropped by the agency he knew Kahaku was working at. Natsume did mention he felt he was still upset about not keeping in touch like he promised. Maybe that's why he never did.
"A lot sure has happened, huh," he mutters as if more talking to himself.
Kahaku goes to get the soup from the stove. It at least looks edible this time. He hopes in this case he pulls off a miracle, and it doesn't taste too bad. He begins separating it into three different bowls. "What about you? What has changed over the years?" He asks from the kitchen as Natsume leans against the table.
"Well, my mother remarried three years ago."
"Really? Was...it to Dylas?"
"Yup, the one that came between my parents marriage in the first place," he answers quite dryly. Natsume's parents were going through the divorce when he moved to Kyoto. His mom fell in love with another man named Dylas. It really upset him that this man broke their family apart. Kahaku would of never guessed his mother would really marry the same guy two years later.
"I can't believe Dylas and Mai got married." Grabbing the three dishes as he slowly brings them into the other room.
"I...can see now though that my parents marriage was already falling apart. Even if Dylas was never in the picture they would have split up at some point. Still, him around made the divorce more messy. They constantly argued through the night. It was hard to block out and go to sleep."
He knows the divorce was bad, but he never knew it was like that. "You didn't ever tell me any of these things."
"You were young and there was nothing you could do about it. No sense in worrying you over it, but that's all in the past now. Dylas...isn't all that bad when you get to know him."
Kahaku puts the dirty pots in the pan, and grabs two other dishes from the fridge setting them on the table. "Sho, dinner is ready!"
"I was shocked seeing Sho after how long it has been. He should be about twelve, right?" Kahaku simply nods in response. "He looks a lot like you now that he has gotten older. He's also only a few inches shorter than you. It won't be long before your baby brother is looking down at you. I'm sure that'll be pretty confusing for everyone." A teasing grin spreading across Natsume's face.
Kahaku lets out a small grunt. Sho and him do look more alike now that they're older, and it is true Sho is getting closer to his height by the day. It's only a matter of time before he passes him. "Haha, very funny. I could say to you the same thing with your height. Your parents were both short so why'd you grow so tall?"
"That's true. My growth spurt shocked myself, ah..." They both turn to see Sho standing at the entrance of the dining room.
"Why is he still here?"
"I invited him to stay and have dinner with us." Sho glares as he takes the seat in the middle that Natsume is standing by. With the table side against the wall it forces him to sit on the only available chair opposite of Kahaku.
The blonde studies the variety of dishes in front of them, giving Sho a questionable look. "Hmm, the food looks edible. What's your verdict on it Sho? How is his cooking now?"
"He can sometimes make basic things, and doesn't burn as much as he use to. Though his cooking is still far from average."
"So I'm guessing it's hard to get this down with a straight face?"
"Most of his dishes are still hazardous."
How nice of them to talk about his cooking like he isn't sitting right there. "Hazardous! Far from average! My cooking can't be that terrible. I've been practicing!"
"Eating some of your food makes me ill. That's why I'm stuck doing most of the cooking," Sho says flatly, and that is sad but true. If Sho didn't cook when he did they would probably starve. He is good at other things like helping him with his homework, or making sure the house is clean but never this.
A light laugh comes from Natsume at the other end of the table. "Let's face it, Kahaku. You never really were a good cook."
"I see you remember all my bad qualities just fine." The dark haired male mutters and Natsume takes a spoon of the soup.
"I guess you've gotten a little better now."
"You still know how it tasted before?"
"How could I not? I was your number one taste tester." Thinking back he did bring food to Natsume all the time. Well after his uncle absolutely refused to try some anymore. No matter how revolting it looked or smelled he would always eat what was brought to him.
"You made no effort to stop expressing to me how terrible it tasted though."
"You should be happy you had an honest taste tester, or any tester for that matter. Some dishes were so bad it was hard to keep down. Hazardous is a good word to describe them, Sho." The boy nodding in agreement.
"So this is something the two of you can bond over."
After talking awhile through dinner the meal is soon finished. "Thanks for the food!" Sho bucking for the living room when Kahaku suddenly blocks his way.
"Not so fast. You can go back to playing your game when your done with the dishes." He groans turning back toward the kitchen.
"About our little date. You free tomorrow?"
"That's right, I don't have any plans."
"Good, we'll do something then. Jeez it's so late, I lost track of time." Glancing at his watch before grabbing his jacket off the back of the couch. "I'll see you tomorrow and don't oversleep like the last time. Bye, Sho!"
🎤 🎤 🎤 🎤 🎤 🎤 🎤 🎤 🎤 🎤 🎤 🎤 🎤
Early morning Kahaku is woke up by his cell ringing, which he should really learn to start shutting off. Groaning as he slowly taps the answer button he doesn't get a chance to speak when the male's voice cuts him off.
"Kahaku, I know you were suppose to have the day off, but there is something we need to discuss. Get dressed and come down to the agency." As usual after Tatsuya says what he wants he hangs up.
"Come into the office...I wonder why."
Wasting no time he pulls himself out of bed to start getting ready.
Arriving there he quickly goes straight towards their usual meeting room. Tatsuya as well as Natsume and Ginko have already gathered around the table. "There you are. I was starting to think you fell back asleep."
"It was a lot of traffic this morning. What's going on?" he asks, taking a seat near Natsume as Tatsuya continues.
"Word has got out by now about your relationship. Now we need to have people start actually seeing the two of you together."
"There is a festival at the park down the street this evening. We want the two of you to go as a couple." Ginko follows up.
They were suppose to go somewhere together anyway. Cameras flashing in their faces wasn't the kind of evening he had planned, but going to a festival with Natsume sounds nice.
"We need to have fans believe what we put out about you is true. What better way than to be seen in the public eye together." Ginko futher explains and Natsume leans back in his chair closing his eyes.
"So basically you want us to make it appear like we're on a date?"
Kahaku's whole body stiffens at the word date. If they are going as a date how will they be acting in public? Thinking of being affectionate with Natsume makes his heart flutter.
"You don't have to stay all night. Just long enough for people to see the two of you. This won't be a problem, right Kahaku?" Tatsuya replies heading for the door.
His sudden question takes him out of his daydream quickly shaking his head. "Ah! Um, of course not..."
"Well you can go now. Make sure you leave your disguise Natsume. Since you seem to get confused with when to put it on and have it off." Ginko grumbles standing up, and Kahaku isn't sure if she is joking or not. Unfamiliar with their relationship but Natsume laughs at her statement.
Outside the agency's building Natsume looks off in the distance. Kahaku can faintly hear commotion from far off. Some people must have already started to gather at the park.
"It's late afternoon and the sun will be setting soon. The autumn festival is to view the changing leaves...I guess this is an okay place for the two of us to go today. Though the fan girls on our tails won't be much fun."
"They'll be following us because of you not me."
"You're just not well known yet, but that's what this arrangement is for. Once the girls see how cute you are I'm sure they won't have enough of you." Kahaku drops his head feelings his cheeks grow warm at his comment. Natsume always doted calling him cute when they were kids, so why now does he feel butterflies in his stomach?
"How much time will you need to get ready." He stands back examining him trying to hold in a laugh. "You look like you just rolled out of bed."
Kahaku takes a minute to look at himself. Wrinkled clothes and sure he may have a bed head. "I was worried when Tatsuya called suddenly, so I threw anything on and rushed down here."
"Well why don't I wait at your house and then we'll leave out together? After all we won't have very long."
"Sure, I guess."
"I was already out when Ginko texted me so I just caught a cab here. We can use your car." The blonde taking lead towards the parking lot.
...
The two pull up in the driveway by the small home. Going inside his brother is playing games on the PS4 as typical. "Is that the first thing you have to do upon coming home from school? Don't you have materials you can be looking over?"
"You can't complain I don't study and you haven't cleaned the house like usual every week. It's been two weeks now," he replies, not bothering to look back. Kahaku's been so busy lately that even when he has free time there's no energy stored to do it. Usually this is one of the things he is on top of. "I helped clean today though."
"Oh, really?" It is unlikely for Sho to get up and do anything unless you tell him to, and even then he sometimes still doesn't listen. So for him to help clean on his own is more than a little surprising to him. "And what all did you do excatly?"
"I cleaned the TV. The screen was smudgy so it was hard for me to play my games. I decided to finish dusting the rest of it off too."
"That's all you cleaned?! You made it sound like you actually did something worth mentioning!" And just when he thought he is starting to be more responsible.
This remark is enough to make him pause his game. "That isn't my job anyway! I already have to do most of the cooking! You should be cleaning rather than going to hang out with Natsume."
"I kind of don't have a choice now..."
"Huh?" The boy now noticing the man chuckling by the door.
"Hi Sho, you just realized I'm here. As amusing as this is to watch the two of you, you really should be getting changed."
"We have important plans for tonight, but I promise I'll clean up tomorrow. I have to get ready so Sho keep Natsume company!"
(Natsume POV)
"But-" Not giving him time to answer he rushes down the hall to his room. Natsume comes around and takes a seat on the left side of the couch. Sho who is sitting in the middle now moves over to the other end. He resumes playing as the blonde examines his game case off the small table in front of them.
"So you like racing games, huh?"
"Hmm."
"You know I'm pretty good at racing games myself. I bet I could even win against you," he adds, knowing that will grab his attention.
Naturally he puts the game on pause again turning to face him. "The only person who can come close to beating me is Megumi. I'm always winning playing online."
"Is that so? Then why don't we have a little race then. Where's the other controller?" Sho gets up and hands him the other spare controller from under the stand.
(Kahaku POV)
What feels like forever Kahaku gets changes into something more presentable. Also fixing his hair before stepping out. Natsume and Sho are just finishing another race as they both tie for first. "Only a tie, huh. I really thought I would beat you, but I guess it's been awhile since I've played this."
"You...tied with me first."
"Don't sound so surprised. I do a little gaming from time to time. Oh, Kahaku you ready? Ah..." He stands up noticing Kahaku has on the same outfit he bought him at the mall. "So this is what you decide to go with. It looks good on you."
"I figured now would be the best to make use of it. Let me grab my shoes."
Natsume does the same and as they get ready to leave out Sho speaks up. "A rematch. We have to play again, I should of beat you. Probably because I slacked off playing this for Zombie apocalypse, but I won't lose next time."
"Okay that's fine with me. Whenever you want a rematch just say the word."
"I'll see you tonight. Don't be so absorbed in your gaming that you forget to eat dinner!" Kahaku shouts as the two head out the door.
A/N How will the their first fake date turn out? Please don't forget to vote and comment.