Rated M for some sexiness and kissing and touching etc.
Thank you for this blessed prompt. I took a few liberties in terms of creating a backstory for this drabble.
2,104 words
The rivalry between Café Iwatobi and Samezuka Sweets went back farther than anyone could remember.
Located across the street from each other, probably as old as the little town itself, it was rumored that the two feuding families did this for a challenge, to see who could put the other out of business faster.
Luckily, the townspeople thoroughly enjoyed this spirit of competitiveness between the Iwatobi and Samezuka clans, and always made sure to give both shops enough business to keep them going.
Makoto Tachibana started working as a waiter at Café Iwatobi back in high school, taking it up as a part time job to earn some extra pocket money. His best friend Haru started out in the kitchen at around the same time.
Haru’s family had owned the café for a few years now, and by the time they both graduated from university, Haru made up his mind to take over as the head chef. When he asked Makoto to join him as manager and maître d', the brunet could hardly resist. Four years of attending university in Tokyo had already been too much for him. He wanted to go back home, to the quietness of his happy little town by the ocean, to everything he knew and loved.
It was the perfect job for him, and he accepted Haru’s offer wholeheartedly.
Only he didn’t know that the job would involve keeping Haru from ripping out the throat of Rin Matsuoka, the maître d' of Samezuka Sweets, on a daily basis. Rin had a mouth on him that didn’t know when to quit, and he had a knack for knowing exactly what would set Haru off.
Rin made it a habit of coming to their café once a week, and ordering a three course meal. He took his time eating it, and then forced Makoto to note down his review of every item he had consumed.
The whole fiasco almost always ended in Haru charging at Rin, running out from the back, a soup ladle raised high above his head. Makoto would have to grab Haru before any blood was shed, and Rin was ceremoniously dragged back to his own shop by a very tired looking Sousuke Yamazaki, who always somehow showed up just in time to help Makoto prevent a disaster from occurring.
Makoto still hadn’t exchanged a word with the hulking, brooding mass of handsomeness with piercing teal eyes. All they did was mirror each other’s tired smiles, while manhandling their respective bosses and best friends.
Makoto often wondered why Haru and Rin had it in for each other. But when he finally discovered the reason, he wish he’d never known.
After one particularly heated exchange, which involved Rin criticizing the amount of salt Haru used in his grilled saba recipe and Haru returned fire by smacking Rin over the head with a spatula, Makoto finally solved the puzzle of their rivalry. Having calmed down the cheering crowd in the café, and served them free coffee and dessert for witnessing the unsightly spectacle, Makoto happened upon Haru and Rin in the back alley behind Café Iwatobi, making out furiously.
Gasping for breath and red with the shock of his discovery, Makoto ran backwards, and almost tripped over a small black cat with a teal ribbon tied around its neck.
If it wasn’t for the sturdy arms of Sousuke Yamazaki breaking his fall, Makoto was sure he would have broken his neck.
Still blushing profusely, Makoto thanked Sousuke for catching him, while the teal-eyed man smirked knowingly at him, puffing on a cigarette.
“So you finally figured it out, eh?” Sousuke looked up at the pale sky overhead, exhaling cigarette smoke.
“I-I never…I mean…I should have known, but…Ahh, I mean…How long have you known?” Makoto found himself looking at the way Sousuke smoked, as though he was entranced by the movement of his long, sturdy fingers and his beautifully sculpted forearms.
“Long enough, I guess. They’re not exactly discreet, you know.” Sousuke smirked at Makoto again, this time blowing smoke right into the brunet’s face, making him cough a little.
“Yeah…Well, I guess I’m not that perceptive.” Makoto didn’t know who he was more angry at. Himself for not figuring out such a big part of Haru’s life, or at Haru for keeping him in the dark for so long.
“I don’t think that’s true, Tachibana. Don’t be too hard on yourself.” Sousuke’s smrik changed into a smile as he said the words. A warm, beautiful smile. A hand reached out to ruffle Makoto’s hair, and before he could realize what was happening, Sousuke had put out his cigarette and was walking back to Samezuka Sweets, the little black cat in tow.
Soon enough, without either of them realizing it, they started taking their breaks at the same time, meeting each other in the small alley behind Café Iwatobi.
“So have you talked to Haru yet? About, you know…” Sousuke’s eyes always looked at the sky, tracing the patterns of clouds, following the white wings of sea birds in flight, reaching for the sun.
“Ahhh…No, not really. I figured, it’s his secret, and if he doesn’t want to tell me, then I’m not going to force it out of him.” The hurt of Haru keeping his relationship from him weighed heavily on Makoto’s heart, though he tried to drown it in his sunflower smile.
“But it’s bothering you.” Sousuke stifled his burning cigarette against the brick wall, and leaned down to have a quick chat with the two cats at his feet.
The black one with a teal ribbon around its neck, and the pale ginger colored one wearing a red ribbon, which had taken to accompanying Makoto on his breaks. Both cats were like mascots for their respective shops, and had done nothing but hiss and frown at each other until now.
That had changed ever since Makoto and Sousuke tentatively became friends with each other, and now both felines were cuddled together on the cobbled surface of the alley, meowing contentedly at Sousuke, feasting at the scraps of cold cut meat he fed them.
Makoto didn’t reply to Sousuke’s concern for him, though it lightened his heart considerably.
He bent down next to the raven-haired man, and joined him in petting the cats.
Before they parted ways, Sousuke presented Makoto with a small box bearing the Samezuka Sweets logo.
“New recipe. A chocolate and honey tart. I thought you’d enjoy it.” Sousuke looked like a schoolgirl confessing to her crush as he scratched the back of his head, his cheeks flushed pink, refusing to look directly at Makoto.
“Oh…Th-Thank you, Yamazaki-san.” Makoto accepted the little pink box in with hands, mirroring Sousuke’s blush.
“You can just call me Sousuke you know. Enough with the formalities, Makoto.” Sousuke’s eyes burned with some unknown fire as Makoto gaped at him.
“Right. S-Sousuke. Thank you.” Makoto found himself staring openly at the way Sousuke smiled at him before returning to work.
During their next meeting, they exchanged email addresses and phone numbers. And after that, Sousuke invited Makoto to his apartment, to try out a few new recipes he was working on. And so that Kuro and Caramel could have a playdate together. Any excuse to see each other outside of work, really.
So it was that Makoto found himself lounging around on Sousuke’s couch on a Sunday afternoon, sipping at a small blue glass of matcha.
Sousuke was wearing a plain white t-shirt with dark jeans and a simple teal apron, checking the oven and mixing batter.
Makoto felt a little overdressed in his pale green button down shirt and khakis.
What did he think it was? A date?
He found himself blushing furiously at the thought of dating Sousuke.
Excusing himself, he ran into the washroom, and leaned over the sink to calm himself down.
Maybe this was a bad idea, getting this close to Sousuke.
What would he do if Haru found out about this? Would he consider Makoto a traitor for befriending the enemy?
And then the image of Haru pinned against the wall took shape in his mind-Haru with his fingers gripping Rin’s ponytail, the lower halves of their bodies gyrating against each other, their tongues visibly entwined together.
Makoto shook it off and tried to banish the impulse of grabbing Haru by the collar and demanding an explanation from his best friend.
However, the image of two men kissing passionately remained branded in his brain.
Only now, the two men were Makoto and Sousuke.
Sousuke’s knee shoved between Makoto’s legs, his tongue inside Makoto’s welcoming mouth, their bodies hotly pushed up together.
A strange feeling blossomed inside Makoto chest, and he felt so weak in the knees he almost fell down.
Struggling against the foreign impulses invading his mind and body, Makoto splashed some cold water on his face and returned to the kitchen where Sousuke was waiting for him.
“Are you okay Makoto? You look like you have a fever.” Sousuke’s voice was gentle and concerned, and his hand reached out to touch Makoto lightly on the forearm.
As though struck by a bolt of lightning, Makoto withdrew his arm, leaving Sousuke looking startled and hurt.
“Ahh…No, sorry, I’m fine.” Makoto regretted his action immediately, unable to express himself properly to Sousuke.
“O-Okay. Well, here you go. It’s a flourless chocolate cake, with a hint of lavender, topped with chocolate glaze.” Sousuke proudly presented his beautiful creation to Makoto.
The cake looked sumptuous and lovely all at once, decorated with a single sprig of dried lavender.
Sousuke had the gift to combine taste and sophistication perfectly, which was unmatched even by Haru’s impeccable cooking.
Though Makoto preferred Haru’s entrees, when it came to dessert, no one could top Sousuke.
Happily, trying to forget the indecent thoughts still swirling around in his head, Makoto helped himself to a mouthful of cake.
He smiled blissfully as he ate, and was glad to see the satisfaction on Sousuke’s face.
“Ahhh, hold on, you have a little glaze right here…” Sousuke’s thumb reached out for Makoto’s upper lip, slowly sliding across it to wipe the chocolate off.
Instinctively, Makoto’s tongue flicked out at the same time, and somehow Sousuke’s chocolate-covered thumb ended up inside Makoto’s mouth.
Makoto knew he should let go and walk away and never come back, but instead he sucked on Sousuke’s thumb intently, as if it tasted better than the cake. And Sousuke let him.
The two cats took their chances, and leapt onto the counter to have a taste of the fresh-baked dessert.
Fortunately, Sousuke had enough presence of mind to put it out of their reach just in time with his free hand.
Disappointed, Kuro and Caramel decided to make do with the plain batter Sousuke had put aside to bake a pound cake for Makoto to take home.
A few minutes later, Makoto was sprawled on Sousuke’s roomy leather couch, his shirt unbuttoned, the fly of his pants unzipped, with a shirtless Sousuke on top of him.
Their first kiss tasted of cigarettes and chocolate and a little bit of matcha.
Makoto thoroughly humiliated himself by cumming in his underwear a little too quickly, as Sousuke’s hardness rubbed against Makoto’s erection, his tongue moving expertly inside Makoto’s mouth.
And somehow that led to them taking a bath together.
And Makoto spent the night at Sousuke’s, and had to call in sick for work on account of his butt being too sore, faking a cold over the phone to throw Haru off.
Despite Makoto’s protests, Sousuke took the day off as well, casually telling Rin over the phone that he didn’t feel like coming in for work.
Rin was still shouting at Sousuke when he hung up.
Days drifted past them, mesmeric, following each other harmoniously like the verses of a poem memorized in childhood. Time was measured in delicate cups of bone china filled to the brim with fresh-brewed coffee, in small stoneware tumblers teeming over with streaming matcha, in small chocolate and honey tarts decorated with lavender.
Their nights were mostly spent together, learning each other’s bodies, chanting out hymns of their shared pleasure in hushed voices.
Kuro and Caramel always joined Sousuke and Makoto on their dates, watching over their owners like a pair of benevolent deities.
When Haru finally came upon them in the back alley, with Sousuke’s hands up the front of Makoto’s shirt, teasing his nipples expertly, his teeth biting on the brunet’s earlobe, even the combined force of Rei and Nagisa and Rin could not keep him from jumping on Sousuke and giving him a nosebleed.
FILL: TEAM TACHIBANA MAKOTO/YAMAZAKI SOUSUKE, M
Thank you for this blessed prompt. I took a few liberties in terms of creating a backstory for this drabble.
2,104 words
The rivalry between Café Iwatobi and Samezuka Sweets went back farther than anyone could remember.
Located across the street from each other, probably as old as the little town itself, it was rumored that the two feuding families did this for a challenge, to see who could put the other out of business faster.
Luckily, the townspeople thoroughly enjoyed this spirit of competitiveness between the Iwatobi and Samezuka clans, and always made sure to give both shops enough business to keep them going.
Makoto Tachibana started working as a waiter at Café Iwatobi back in high school, taking it up as a part time job to earn some extra pocket money. His best friend Haru started out in the kitchen at around the same time.
Haru’s family had owned the café for a few years now, and by the time they both graduated from university, Haru made up his mind to take over as the head chef. When he asked Makoto to join him as manager and maître d', the brunet could hardly resist. Four years of attending university in Tokyo had already been too much for him. He wanted to go back home, to the quietness of his happy little town by the ocean, to everything he knew and loved.
It was the perfect job for him, and he accepted Haru’s offer wholeheartedly.
Only he didn’t know that the job would involve keeping Haru from ripping out the throat of Rin Matsuoka, the maître d' of Samezuka Sweets, on a daily basis.
Rin had a mouth on him that didn’t know when to quit, and he had a knack for knowing exactly what would set Haru off.
Rin made it a habit of coming to their café once a week, and ordering a three course meal. He took his time eating it, and then forced Makoto to note down his review of every item he had consumed.
The whole fiasco almost always ended in Haru charging at Rin, running out from the back, a soup ladle raised high above his head. Makoto would have to grab Haru before any blood was shed, and Rin was ceremoniously dragged back to his own shop by a very tired looking Sousuke Yamazaki, who always somehow showed up just in time to help Makoto prevent a disaster from occurring.
Makoto still hadn’t exchanged a word with the hulking, brooding mass of handsomeness with piercing teal eyes. All they did was mirror each other’s tired smiles, while manhandling their respective bosses and best friends.
Makoto often wondered why Haru and Rin had it in for each other. But when he finally discovered the reason, he wish he’d never known.
After one particularly heated exchange, which involved Rin criticizing the amount of salt Haru used in his grilled saba recipe and Haru returned fire by smacking Rin over the head with a spatula, Makoto finally solved the puzzle of their rivalry. Having calmed down the cheering crowd in the café, and served them free coffee and dessert for witnessing the unsightly spectacle, Makoto happened upon Haru and Rin in the back alley behind Café Iwatobi, making out furiously.
Gasping for breath and red with the shock of his discovery, Makoto ran backwards, and almost tripped over a small black cat with a teal ribbon tied around its neck.
If it wasn’t for the sturdy arms of Sousuke Yamazaki breaking his fall, Makoto was sure he would have broken his neck.
Still blushing profusely, Makoto thanked Sousuke for catching him, while the teal-eyed man smirked knowingly at him, puffing on a cigarette.
“So you finally figured it out, eh?” Sousuke looked up at the pale sky overhead, exhaling cigarette smoke.
“I-I never…I mean…I should have known, but…Ahh, I mean…How long have you known?” Makoto found himself looking at the way Sousuke smoked, as though he was entranced by the movement of his long, sturdy fingers and his beautifully sculpted forearms.
“Long enough, I guess. They’re not exactly discreet, you know.” Sousuke smirked at Makoto again, this time blowing smoke right into the brunet’s face, making him cough a little.
“Yeah…Well, I guess I’m not that perceptive.” Makoto didn’t know who he was more angry at. Himself for not figuring out such a big part of Haru’s life, or at Haru for keeping him in the dark for so long.
“I don’t think that’s true, Tachibana. Don’t be too hard on yourself.” Sousuke’s smrik changed into a smile as he said the words. A warm, beautiful smile. A hand reached out to ruffle Makoto’s hair, and before he could realize what was happening, Sousuke had put out his cigarette and was walking back to Samezuka Sweets, the little black cat in tow.
Soon enough, without either of them realizing it, they started taking their breaks at the same time, meeting each other in the small alley behind Café Iwatobi.
“So have you talked to Haru yet? About, you know…” Sousuke’s eyes always looked at the sky, tracing the patterns of clouds, following the white wings of sea birds in flight, reaching for the sun.
“Ahhh…No, not really. I figured, it’s his secret, and if he doesn’t want to tell me, then I’m not going to force it out of him.” The hurt of Haru keeping his relationship from him weighed heavily on Makoto’s heart, though he tried to drown it in his sunflower smile.
“But it’s bothering you.” Sousuke stifled his burning cigarette against the brick wall, and leaned down to have a quick chat with the two cats at his feet.
The black one with a teal ribbon around its neck, and the pale ginger colored one wearing a red ribbon, which had taken to accompanying Makoto on his breaks. Both cats were like mascots for their respective shops, and had done nothing but hiss and frown at each other until now.
That had changed ever since Makoto and Sousuke tentatively became friends with each other, and now both felines were cuddled together on the cobbled surface of the alley, meowing contentedly at Sousuke, feasting at the scraps of cold cut meat he fed them.
Makoto didn’t reply to Sousuke’s concern for him, though it lightened his heart considerably.
He bent down next to the raven-haired man, and joined him in petting the cats.
Before they parted ways, Sousuke presented Makoto with a small box bearing the Samezuka Sweets logo.
“New recipe. A chocolate and honey tart. I thought you’d enjoy it.” Sousuke looked like a schoolgirl confessing to her crush as he scratched the back of his head, his cheeks flushed pink, refusing to look directly at Makoto.
“Oh…Th-Thank you, Yamazaki-san.” Makoto accepted the little pink box in with hands, mirroring Sousuke’s blush.
“You can just call me Sousuke you know. Enough with the formalities, Makoto.” Sousuke’s eyes burned with some unknown fire as Makoto gaped at him.
“Right. S-Sousuke. Thank you.” Makoto found himself staring openly at the way Sousuke smiled at him before returning to work.
During their next meeting, they exchanged email addresses and phone numbers.
And after that, Sousuke invited Makoto to his apartment, to try out a few new recipes he was working on. And so that Kuro and Caramel could have a playdate together. Any excuse to see each other outside of work, really.
So it was that Makoto found himself lounging around on Sousuke’s couch on a Sunday afternoon, sipping at a small blue glass of matcha.
Sousuke was wearing a plain white t-shirt with dark jeans and a simple teal apron, checking the oven and mixing batter.
Makoto felt a little overdressed in his pale green button down shirt and khakis.
What did he think it was? A date?
He found himself blushing furiously at the thought of dating Sousuke.
Excusing himself, he ran into the washroom, and leaned over the sink to calm himself down.
Maybe this was a bad idea, getting this close to Sousuke.
What would he do if Haru found out about this? Would he consider Makoto a traitor for befriending the enemy?
And then the image of Haru pinned against the wall took shape in his mind-Haru with his fingers gripping Rin’s ponytail, the lower halves of their bodies gyrating against each other, their tongues visibly entwined together.
Makoto shook it off and tried to banish the impulse of grabbing Haru by the collar and demanding an explanation from his best friend.
However, the image of two men kissing passionately remained branded in his brain.
Only now, the two men were Makoto and Sousuke.
Sousuke’s knee shoved between Makoto’s legs, his tongue inside Makoto’s welcoming mouth, their bodies hotly pushed up together.
A strange feeling blossomed inside Makoto chest, and he felt so weak in the knees he almost fell down.
Struggling against the foreign impulses invading his mind and body, Makoto splashed some cold water on his face and returned to the kitchen where Sousuke was waiting for him.
“Are you okay Makoto? You look like you have a fever.” Sousuke’s voice was gentle and concerned, and his hand reached out to touch Makoto lightly on the forearm.
As though struck by a bolt of lightning, Makoto withdrew his arm, leaving Sousuke looking startled and hurt.
“Ahh…No, sorry, I’m fine.” Makoto regretted his action immediately, unable to express himself properly to Sousuke.
“O-Okay. Well, here you go. It’s a flourless chocolate cake, with a hint of lavender, topped with chocolate glaze.” Sousuke proudly presented his beautiful creation to Makoto.
The cake looked sumptuous and lovely all at once, decorated with a single sprig of dried lavender.
Sousuke had the gift to combine taste and sophistication perfectly, which was unmatched even by Haru’s impeccable cooking.
Though Makoto preferred Haru’s entrees, when it came to dessert, no one could top Sousuke.
Happily, trying to forget the indecent thoughts still swirling around in his head, Makoto helped himself to a mouthful of cake.
He smiled blissfully as he ate, and was glad to see the satisfaction on Sousuke’s face.
“Ahhh, hold on, you have a little glaze right here…” Sousuke’s thumb reached out for Makoto’s upper lip, slowly sliding across it to wipe the chocolate off.
Instinctively, Makoto’s tongue flicked out at the same time, and somehow Sousuke’s chocolate-covered thumb ended up inside Makoto’s mouth.
Makoto knew he should let go and walk away and never come back, but instead he sucked on Sousuke’s thumb intently, as if it tasted better than the cake.
And Sousuke let him.
The two cats took their chances, and leapt onto the counter to have a taste of the fresh-baked dessert.
Fortunately, Sousuke had enough presence of mind to put it out of their reach just in time with his free hand.
Disappointed, Kuro and Caramel decided to make do with the plain batter Sousuke had put aside to bake a pound cake for Makoto to take home.
A few minutes later, Makoto was sprawled on Sousuke’s roomy leather couch, his shirt unbuttoned, the fly of his pants unzipped, with a shirtless Sousuke on top of him.
Their first kiss tasted of cigarettes and chocolate and a little bit of matcha.
Makoto thoroughly humiliated himself by cumming in his underwear a little too quickly, as Sousuke’s hardness rubbed against Makoto’s erection, his tongue moving expertly inside Makoto’s mouth.
And somehow that led to them taking a bath together.
And Makoto spent the night at Sousuke’s, and had to call in sick for work on account of his butt being too sore, faking a cold over the phone to throw Haru off.
Despite Makoto’s protests, Sousuke took the day off as well, casually telling Rin over the phone that he didn’t feel like coming in for work.
Rin was still shouting at Sousuke when he hung up.
Days drifted past them, mesmeric, following each other harmoniously like the verses of a poem memorized in childhood. Time was measured in delicate cups of bone china filled to the brim with fresh-brewed coffee, in small stoneware tumblers teeming over with streaming matcha, in small chocolate and honey tarts decorated with lavender.
Their nights were mostly spent together, learning each other’s bodies, chanting out hymns of their shared pleasure in hushed voices.
Kuro and Caramel always joined Sousuke and Makoto on their dates, watching over their owners like a pair of benevolent deities.
When Haru finally came upon them in the back alley, with Sousuke’s hands up the front of Makoto’s shirt, teasing his nipples expertly, his teeth biting on the brunet’s earlobe, even the combined force of Rei and Nagisa and Rin could not keep him from jumping on Sousuke and giving him a nosebleed.