Work Text:
“These mere peasants will be utterly delighted when they get the honor of tasting Asselin Beelzebub II’s exquisite banquet of nightmares! I cannot wait to look upon the bliss in their oh so ordinary eyes!! A-HAHAHAHA!!”
There he goes again. A sigh left Soichiro’s mouth as Asselin continued to shout about his grand entrance, the taxi driver shooting Soichiro a concerned glance through the rear view mirror.
“We’re not invited as Idols, Asselin-san. We are just here for the catering so please don’t scare away the staff.” The patissier reminded him. “I can not make such an outrageous promise, Soichiro! Alas the mere sight of Satan is nefariously horrifying!”
Soichiro couldn’t help but sigh again. Café Parade had been invited to take care of the catering for a commercial photo shooting of a famous gothic brand. Invited may be a little inaccurate. The previous caterer had cancelled on short notice and their ever-so-ambitious Producer had immediately suggested their Café Idols for the job.
“They’re free on that day and they’re already familiar with the models and their eating habits, it’s a win-win-situation.” They had said. The English phrase was most likely the influence of a certain English teacher, Soichiro was sure.
It was true, though. They weren’t particularly close to the Idols who were chosen from 315 to be the models for the commercial, but it wouldn’t be their first time cooking and baking for them. And what an unprofessional Café would they be if they couldn’t recall the eating habits of their colleagues?
Thus, Asselin would mainly be responsible for the staff of the photo studio since all three of the models happened to have a sweet tooth. Soichiro already had a plan on which simple sweets (that wouldn’t make a mess) he would make for them, even going as far as to prepare bite-sized pancakes for Hideo with different sweet fillings. He’d also make macarons for Kanon, the boy had a liking for the colorful and cute sweets.
He was struggling with an idea for the third and final model though. Usually, he’d just make something basic like cake pops or petit fours, which he was still going to make, but since he planned on making something personal for the others, he would feel bad to only deliver two personalized sweets just because the last one had to have such a traditional lifestyle. The simple answer of course would be traditionally Japanese sweets but not even if he was in the depths of hell with Satan personally torturing him, would he ever even consider using that abomination of a paste in his pastries. So he had to come up with something else.
Their taxis arrived at the location and the Café staff entered the tall and modern building. The staff greeted everyone in the spacious lobby, decorated with different articles of clothing from their newest collection. It was evident that the brand was successful, the glass walls and the luxurious, dark marble floor weren’t even remotely comparable to 315’s office, let alone the furniture that looked like it was worth more than the entirety of Café Parade.
Regardless of how out of their league the place seemed, the staff was lovely and very open in welcoming them. Some of them seemed to be cautious once Asselin exclaimed his excitement about the fashion pieces but the rest were able to handle his colleagues' odd behaviour just fine. Clearly professionals.
They were led into the kitchen, just as spacious and floored with the same dark marble as the lobby. It was big enough to have half a dozen people hurry around without getting in the way of each other, honestly Soichiro was kind of envious of that. He loved Café Parade but sometimes Asselin’s yelling about “the eternal damnation of the cursed souls” made him wish to have more space to himself while baking. Especially since he was stuck with him in the kitchen the entire day. Said individual spoke up again.
“Marvelous! This unholy place has all the necessary tools to create the withering sacrifices that Satan demands! ‘Tis truly a worthy ritual chamber for the enchantments and curses that we will bestow upon thee!”
Soichiro had to agree. His eccentric colleague and him both inspected the utensils, the ingredients and the workplace and it was all indeed remarkable. No doubt, they could both create their best snacks for the crew here. Said crew seemed more unsure of how to approach Asselin the more he was speaking, so Yukihiro quickly stepped in with his ever-so-friendly smile “The chef and the patissier approve of your kitchen, it’s magnificent. Would you mind showing us waiters around where we’ll have to work?”
On the other side of the kitchen, in the small but well lit and organized room where the ingredients were kept, Saki squeaked out in excitement “Waaah! It’s so cuuute!! Roll, look, it’s so tiny!!” His best friend quickly joined him to look at what Saki found. Soichiro also stepped closer, his curiosity piqued. Saki was pointing at an array of cooled berries and fruits, specifically at the remarkably small strawberries.
“Woow they’re really small!! I don’t think I’ve ever seen such small strawberries! Oh oh and look at the kiwis over there!” Makio pointed excitedly. The gears in the patissiers’ head started turning and then it finally dawned on him. He smiled, satisfied that he could finally think of the thing he was still missing, as the staff called over Saki and Makio for the tour of the set where they would be running around and offering snacks and refreshments.
Soichiro and Asselin got ready and started preparing their respective snacks. It would still be a few hours until the models arrived, plus makeup and costumes, it would give them more than enough time to prepare everything. Maybe they’d be done fast enough to assist their fellow unit members in bringing the self made treats.
After about two hours, when Soichiro and Asselin had the majority of their “banquet of eternal damnation” prepared, a familiar little boy in cute clothing came running into the kitchen and bumped into Soichiro. He was lucky that he just took the tray of macarons out of the oven and put it into the cooler so he didn’t have a chance to drop anything. Possibly even the hot tray itself on the child. “Careful, Himeno-san. I could’ve dropped the precious sweets I made just for you.” He smiled and patted the boy's head.
As Kanon’s eyes sparked with joy at the sound of “sweets” and “just for you”, they heard a soft but stern voice nearing the kitchen “Himeno-san, please don’t run, that’s dangerous!” A second later Kuro was standing in the doorway to the kitchen and looking sternly at said boy.
“Waah Soichiro-kun protect me!” Kanon whined half-seriously and attempted to hide behind the patissier. Soichiro chuckled, knelt down to Kanon's eye level and held up a finger as if to scold him “But Kiyosumi-san is right. I told you, I could have dropped the sweets I made for all of you if you wouldn’t be so lucky. Or even worse, I could have dropped the hot tray and it could have left some unpretty marks on your cute face.”
Kanon pouted and let go of his apron “I’ll go look for Makio-kun then, he’s more fun than you two meanies!” He started walking towards the kitchen door but turned around again and hastily walked back to Soichiro, whispering “Hey but I’ll still get some sweets, right?” The patissier chuckled and whispered back “Of course. Would be a waste if no one ate them.” The little boy’s face lit up again and he turned and almost ran out of the kitchen.
Kuro turned to look after him “I said no running, Himeno-san!” He turned back around and sighed, stepping into the kitchen “I apologize for that.” He gave Soichiro an apologetic smile and brushed a strand of hair behind his ear, a nervous habit of the young man, as Soichiro had noticed early on in their acquaintance.
It wasn’t the first time he was talking to Kuro and it also wasn’t the first time that Soichiro was looking at him but usually they weren’t alone when talking to each other. Well, Asselin was also still in the kitchen but the two of them somehow managed to ignore his manic laughter and his chuunibyou monologue.
Soichiro had appreciated Kuro’s elegance ever since Café Parade had been introduced to Sai. With a Production full of such diverse and sometimes outright wild personalities, Soichiro appreciated everyone who was a little level-headed and calm. Of course he also found Kuro to be beautiful but who didn’t? There were people in the agency like Shouma or Natsuki or also Kuro who were just objectively beautiful. Of course there was no deeper meaning to this, Soichiro thought to himself, unlike Kamiya likes to hint at, that airhead.
Yukihiro, who was friends with Kuro since they were both avid tea-drinkers, sometimes liked to insinuate that Soichiro should talk to him more or get to know him better. Soichiro knew Yukihiro for a long enough time to know that he wanted to hook them up. Which was just absurd, of course. Kuro was just a colleague. A pleasant, polite and very pretty colleague but a colleague nonetheless. No more and no less. Alright, maybe his personality and looks were very much Soichiro’s type but that didn’t have to mean anything at all.
“Ah, no need to apologize. He is just a kid after all.” Soichiro smiled politely at the younger man. He noticed a curious look on Kuro’s face aimed at something seemingly behind Soichiro. He turned around to check what it might be, lest Asselin was up to any antics again, but only saw the cooler he had previously put the freshly baked treats into.
“Oh, my apologies.” Kuro said self-consciously and gave him a small smile “It’s just that I am not familiar with such modern kitchen equipment. I was wondering if that was a special sort of refrigerator and if it wouldn’t be too cold for the treats?”
Alright he had to admit, as odd as that statement was, it was kind of cute. Kind of. Still everything purely platonic though. “It is a fridge and no, it’s not too cold. You actually need to cool most western pastries for quite a while before you can serve them. Cakes you should cool off on the tray for a while before putting them in the fridge but with macarons it’s different.” He explained, hoping he didn’t go into too much detail. According to the genuine interest in Kuro’s look, though, he didn’t.
“I see, I didn’t know that.” He looked delighted to have learned something new and tilted his head a little to the side “Excuse me for asking... What are macrons?”
“Macarons.” Soichiro corrected with a smile and turned to open the fridge. He heard Kuro come closer and felt his presence when he looked over his shoulder, curious to see the foreign sweets. “They are french meringue pastries made from almond flour. You put buttercream in between the two cookies and also some food coloring to add a unique charm. It’s especially popular with kids.” He explained to try and distract himself from Kuro’s pleasant scent of incense and Hinoki. Of course he’d smell like a traditional japanese home but Soichiro wasn’t complaining.
“Macarons… They look wonderful! May I try one once they’re done, Shinonome-san?” The patissier looked over at Kuro’s excited face and chuckled. The look on the tea lover’s face was very similar to that of a kid who just discovered a new toy or the one of a very happy dog, ready to go for a walk. Of course Soichiro didn’t fail to notice the small blush on his face either. “Of course. Although I also have something different for you prepared.”
Soichiro would lie if he said he didn’t want to see that surprised and flattered face when he thought of special treats he could make for today’s models. It was one of the main reasons why he felt so at home in Café Parade. They were there to make people happy and to put a smile on their face, that’s what made the staff of Café Parade feel accomplished.
“You made something specifically for me? You really didn’t have to, Shinonome-san.” But the happiness in his voice told Soichiro otherwise. He heard that a lot in customer’s voices, the ones who didn’t expect the treats and food to be as good as it actually was. The pleasant surprise of receiving something way nicer than you were expecting. Yukihiro really did rub off on him because he found himself really enjoying that tone. Not to mention the flattered and abashed smile he got to see from the beautiful young man in front of him.
“It’s my job to bring joy through my pastries. I enjoy creating specialties a lot, events like this are great opportunities for that.” He softly closed the fridge door and leaned against it, offering Kuro a gentle smile “Also, please call me Soichiro.”
The tea lover’s smile softened to match the patissier’s “In that case, I am greatly looking forward to trying your specialty, Soichiro.”
Alright, maybe this wasn’t purely platonic. And yes, maybe Yukihiro was right and maybe he did know his best friend and his tastes way too well but who could blame him when Kuro was standing there and smiling at him so softly with those strikingly grey-ish green eyes of his. Said man brushed another strand of dark green hair behind his ear and let out a small chuckle, looking at nothing specific on the floor next to Soichiro. He couldn’t tell if Kuro also felt this beginning of a connection between them and chuckled because of that or if he was starting to feel a little awkward since Soichiro didn’t realize that he hadn’t said anything in quite a while and was just staring at the other. Probably the latter, he thought.
“Here you are, Kuro! The make-up artist is looking for you.” That was Hideo, the third and final model of today, standing in the doorway of the kitchen, pulling the two out of their small conversation. Kuro flinched and looked panicked at the kitchen clock. “Oh no I’m late! Thank you for getting me, Akuno-san!” he said and hurried over to the former Policeman.
“No problem, let’s get going.” Hideo was already leaving but Kuro turned around again and politely bowed before Soichiro “Thank you for the lovely conversation. And um… you can call me Kuro.” He smiled again and hurried after Hideo to get ready for his photo shoot.
Soichiro stood there, smiling like a goof and noticed that somehow they had completely faded out Asselin, who was still holding a dramatic monologue about enslaving the souls of the innocent through his grand banquet of darkness.
As soon as they were done preparing the food, Asselin and Soichiro made their way to the shooting area. The set was stunning to say the least. Beautiful walls covered with antique pictures, portraits and framed insects, luxurious red velvet curtains also decorated the walls, the distance between each probably measured down to the millimeter. Elegant dark furniture made of mahogany wood and fine leather was set up in a way that made the set look like the interior of a castle and to top it all off, equally as luxurious candle holders were filling the set with a soft light and subtle scent of something mysterious but alluring.
While Saki and Makio were placing the different appetizers on the buffet table and Asselin was taking pictures of himself and Satan on set, Yukihiro moved closer and stood next to his childhood friend.
“You really outdid yourself again, Shinonome.” He said with his pleasant smile.
“Of course. Wouldn’t want to embarrass Café Parade.”
“I noticed your little cards on the personal trays. Very cute touch.”
Soichiro chuckled, “Thank you.”
He heard Yukihiro’s smile turn into a knowing smirk “I also noticed that you wrote “Kuro” instead of “Kiyosumi-san”.”
Damn. He was hesitant to write his first name for this specific reason. But when he imagined that Kuro might be disappointed when he saw his last name used right after he offered him his first name, Soichiro decided he could take Kamiya’s inevitable teasing. He just hoped he was right about that.
“It would seem so.” Was all he said, trying not to let anything else slip to prevent even more teasing.
“I also talked to Kuro about it.”
Of course he had. Soichiro refused to look at Yukihiro’s smug face. Kamiya wasn’t the type of person to say “I told you so” but he let you know that he did. His knowing grin and the mischievous look in his eyes was more than enough to let you know that he told you so.
“Ah, did you now? Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.”
He let out his usual light hearted laugh and gave his friend a gentle pat on the back “You know me quite well then. But in all seriousness, he seemed to be very delighted to have talked to you. He was pretty excited to try your sweets too.”
Soichiro couldn’t deny that thinking about Kuro like that made his heart flutter. “Was he?” He cursed himself for how hopeful he sounded. Was he this infatuated with Kuro from the very beginning just like Kamiya had hinted at? It was honestly getting difficult to deny at this point.
Before they could keep their conversation going, Soichiro heard footsteps behind him. From the loud clacking of heels, it was evident that it would be the models in full attire, getting ready for the shooting.
But when Soichiro looked at Kamiya’s face, he was scared.
Kamiya looked in utter awe and amazement at the two men (and one boy) who just walked in. But it wasn’t just adoration, Soichiro knew him well enough to see the glint of mischievous entertainment in his eyes and that was the part that made Soichiro nervous.
“Kamiya.” He warned sternly.
His friend looked at him with that god-awful grin on his face. “Well if you weren’t sure about liking him before, you’ll be sure once you see him wearing that.”
Soichiro didn’t like the sound of that at all. Or maybe he liked it a little too much. He shot Kamiya one last warning glare before turning around to look at his object of affection.
And oh God was Kamiya right. Once again.
While Hideo and Kanon were investigating their props for the shooting, Soichiros whole attention was fixated on Kuro. The young man was indeed gorgeous in his black and purple gothic attire. The clothing was so luxurious, one could practically feel the smoothness of it. The embroidery and the golden details were remarkable as well, but of course the clothing wasn’t what intrigued Soichiro so much.
Kuro’s already handsome face was accentuated with subtle make-up to bring out his eyes and his jawline. His smooth hair was pushed back on his left side and a purple ribbon with black feathers was clipped behind his ear to hold his green hair in place and Soichiro would lie if he claimed that he didn’t want to undo that hairclip to run his fingers through the model’s hair.
But still, as little as he wanted to admit it, the face was not the body part of the young man that had all of his attention.
The tea-lover who usually wore wide and traditional clothing, was made to wear very tight black pants with purple accents on its sides and God his legs were gorgeous. What didn’t make the patissier’s staring any better were the matching leather boots Kuro wore. Black boots with purple and grey silk ribbons, even including a small pearl chain just above the heel.
And that was exactly what made Soichiro weak. Those heels. The boots had beautiful steel heels of about 5 centimeters and a small steel plateau to match. The shoes combined with those pants on Kuro were too much for the patissier to handle. Kuro’s legs looked amazing, slim and very defined and Soichiro suffocated every other thought that might have come to him as his eyes wandered further up from the young man’s legs.
“You were right.” Soichiro told his friend once he cleared his throat and regained his composure. At least somewhat.
Kamiya laughed and patted his back “Of course I was.”
The Café owner started walking towards the buffet table where Makio and Saki were already preparing trays with different treats to bring to the staff. Before he left Soichiros earshot, he turned around and winked at him “You can be bolder with him, you know? I think a bold move will do the trick.”
With those words Yukihiro left Soichiro standing there, still trying to keep his eyes away from Kuro’s hips and legs.
The photo shooting went flawlessly. Soichiro, on the other hand, was suffering.
Kanon did a great job. The photographers were sceptical at first but the child model was naturally able to make the perfect expressions and poses to match his accessoire.
The former policeman struggled a little at first but once he got the hang of it, he was able to use the similarities between himself and the shark on top of the walking cane to his advantage.
But the entire time that Kuro was on set was unbearable for Soichiro. Much to Soichiro’s dismay, his childhood friend took away his opportunity to distract himself from the beautiful model. Kamiya, who decided to have a little fun at Soichiro’s expense, had told the other staff that the patissier had a migraine and would step down from servicing his own treats. He asked them oh so nicely to offer his good friend a comfortable chair and to please excuse the trouble that would make for them. Of course they were accommodating enough to do so and let him rest but how much would that even help if the root of his problem was displayed right in front of said chair?
Kuro was giving a wonderful performance. He was quite unfamiliar and unsure of the foreign clothing but the longer he worked with it, the more accustomed he got to it. They first set him up on a small set of stairs to really get the shoes into the shot, which only accentuated his legs and made Soichiro force himself to look anywhere but there. Then they had him make some poses while standing and adjusted the camera angle so he’d be seen from below.
Then they had Kuro sit down in an antique armchair and cross his legs in various ways. The way he gracefully crossed his stretched out legs or the way he slowly leaned his torso over the armrest or the outright sensual looks he gave the camera left Soichiro weak.
The patissier couldn't believe the immature thoughts that invaded his mind when he watched the model work. He should be able to be professional and not ogle at his colleague like he was a desperate 15 year old who just found his first dirty magazine, but he just couldn’t get himself to think clearly. Those tight pants and the suggestive boots on Kuro’s usually well hidden legs made him think that he was seeing something of Kuro that was usually only reserved for more private occasions.
What made matters worse was that Soichiro caught Kuro stealing little glances his way. They didn’t last long and they weren’t regular enough to be suspicious but something about the way he looked at Soichiro in those short moments, made the patissier believe that Kuro wanted him to see. That he was making sure he would stare at him the way he was doing it right now and he’d lie if he said that that thought didn’t make his stomach flutter. Of course that couldn’t be true though and he internally slapped himself for thinking so inappropriately of his coworker.
After some time, that passed way too slowly for Soichiro’s tastes, the photographer and the director checked on the pictures they had already taken and declared that they could wrap it up for the day. Because they hadn’t expected to be done so quickly, the directors invited everyone to stay some longer, enjoy the food together and create some lasting business bonds. To say that they were impressed by 315’s work would be an understatement.
Hideo and Kanon practically ran to the buffet table to try the sweets Soichiro created. The patissier got up from his seat and decided to present their personal treats to them. As he was speaking to the models about the sweets he had created just for them, he briefly overheard someone mentioning his name in a different conversation. He took a quick glance around the room to check if his assistance might be needed anywhere and saw who it was.
Curse you Kamiya.
Kamiya apparently decided to play cupid today. He was talking to the tea ceremony preparer with that sweet smile of his that hid his intentions of torturing his best friend even more than he already had that day. Much to Soichiro’s dismay, he couldn’t hear what they were talking about but you shouldn’t always assume the worst, right? Maybe the Café owner was just complimenting him or maybe they were just having an innocent discourse about tea. He couldn’t even say for sure that it was Kamiya who started their conversation, all he heard was his name and it’s not unnatural to talk about your close friends right? Soichiro let out a sigh. He really disliked how much this whole situation made him overthink simple things like these, it really felt like he was back in high school dealing with his first crush.
“Ah, Shinonome-san? Your sweets are absolutely delightful! Could you tell me how you made these and what they are called?”
A friendly voice pulled him from his overthinking. He looked at the friendly woman in front of him, holding a few of his petit fours and subtly shook himself back into his professional mindset. He hadn’t noticed when the other two models left to chat with some of the staff but that wasn’t important right now.
“Of course. I am very pleased to hear that you’re enjoying my treats.”
He had a lovely conversation with the lady who turned out to be the makeup artist for the models that day. As it seemed, she was quite interested in baking herself, so she didn’t seem to mind when Soichiro took the chance to practically swoon about the art of making sweets, trying to free his mind of a certain green-haired young man.
After a short but excited exchange about pastries, the makeup artist excused herself and left the patissier at the sweets table again. He took a look at the sweets table and smiled, pleased to see that the majority had already been eaten and from what he heard from tidbits of conversations, the others also enjoyed his treats thoroughly.
“Ah, Soichiro. I'm sorry, I meant to talk to you sooner but I got held up by everyone who wanted to speak with me.”
The owner of that soft voice, also known as the source of his distress today, was standing behind him. Soichiro braced himself mentally and turned to face the young man. Standing in front of him now, he noticed that the heels made him a bit taller than himself and he couldn’t say he disliked it. Just as much as he didn’t dislike looking at him from up close. The ensemble was stunning of course but his face was even more elegant than usual, the lady from before really outdid herself.
The contouring she did accentuated all the right parts of his face and his carefully shaped eyebrows and slightly glittery eyeshadow were the cherry on top.
“Kuro, you did a fantastic job. You really put those boots on display” Soichiro complimented with a pleasant smile.
You can be bolder with him, you know?
Kamiya’s voice ran through his head as he looked at the slightly flustered Kuro in front of him.
“Oh thank you. I still struggle walking on shoes with heels to be honest. But I’m glad I was able to do my job nicely today. The clothes, although pretty, are quite unusual for me as well”
He went to brush a strand of hair away but remembered that his hair was tucked back by the hair clip on the left side so he lowered his hand again, chuckling awkwardly. Goodness was he cute.
I think a bold move will do the trick.
Yes, I heard you the first time, thank you.
“The clothes suit you very well if you ask me. It’s nice to see parts of your body that are usually hidden behind your normal clothing.”
Soichiro couldn’t have missed even the slightest blush with how closely (or desperately) he was watching the other for any reaction. Luckily he wasn’t disappointed, as he saw the tips of Kuro’s ears turn red at his compliment. This time the model chose the right side to brush a hair strand behind his ear. Soichiro was slowly getting the hang of reading him and thanks to that felt some confidence fill him as he pondered his next move.
“Thank you very much! I think I prefer Japanese clothing but I would like to try something like this more often.”
His grey eyes wandered to the pastry table and he seemed to remember why he approached Soichiro in the first place.
“Um… Not to change the subject, but I would really love to try the sweets you were talking about before and I happened to see the tray with my name on it."
Soichiro could tell that Kuro was trying to hide his curiosity and decided to follow Kamiya's example by teasing him about it.
"Curious, are we?" The patissier chuckled at Kuro as he reached for the lid of the small tray. The blush he was rewarded with was exactly what he had hoped for.
"Ah well… I saw how wonderful the other treats looked and really wanted to see what you created specially for me. Also…"
He trailed off, as if he didn't dare to say his next thought out loud. This made Soichiro curious so he stopped with his hand still on the lid and looked at the other questioningly.
"Also what?"
"Ah… well… I spoke to Kamiya-san and he told me that you don't like making traditional sweets. So I got even more curious as to what you made for me. I'm sorry if you feel uncomfortable because he told me that about you."
Oh so that was what they were speaking of. Kamiya was most likely also curious about what Soichiro made for Kuro because he knew of his hatred for that disgusting paste.
"I understand, it would make sense that you'd wonder about your sweets in that case. You don't have to worry though, I don't mind him sharing that with you. But I do have to say that he underestimated me if he thought I couldn't come up with a solution for this problem." Soichiro chuckled.
"Now then, let me present to you, your personal sweets."
As he announced the big reveal, he opened the lid of the small tray and revealed the small pastel pink and green balls he made earlier that day.
Kuro’s eyes lit up as he recognized what he was looking at and warmed Soichiro’s heart just with that look.
“But that’s… That’s Daifuku! Doesn’t it usually include a-” he cut himself off just in time, quickly putting his hands over his mouth. Soichiro was lucky that he was so considerate, otherwise he might have had to sit down for real this time and not just to ogle at the beautiful model.
“Excuse me. How did you get around that, Soichiro?” he lowered his hands again and looked curiously at the sweets as if he was too afraid that they’d break if he touched them.
The patissier chuckled and took one of the rose Daifuku in his hand, holding it out to the younger man “Why don’t you try them and tell me? I did make them just for you after all. I would be honored to hear your feedback, your majesty.”
The model let out a soft laugh and reached for the small treat. As their hands brushed against each other briefly, Soichiro had to hold himself back from holding on and when he checked again, he noticed that Kuro’s ears, once again, were a matching pink to the Daifuku he was holding now.
Kuro elegantly put the handmade treat in his mouth and bit down, his facial expressions changing from bewilderment to excitement within seconds. Soichiro had to admit that watching the other react so positively to something he made especially for him filled him with pride and delight. The patissier didn’t really try to hold back his smirk while he watched Kuro eagerly eat his treat.
“That tastes marvellous, Soichiro! The taste of matcha fits in so well with the strawberries, I’ve never tried anything like this before!” he exclaimed after he swallowed his bite. Soichiro was impressed but not surprised that the other was able to eat in an elegant manner even while he was this excited.
Even though he very much appreciated compliments, Soichiro was used to them. He was very confident in his skills as a patissier so people enjoying his creations wasn’t anything new to him. With Kuro however, he wasn’t sure if it was the atmosphere of the set or maybe his clothes but Soichiro felt quite special to have surprised him like that.
“I’m honored, actually it almost feels like I’m getting praised by royalty with the way you look. Come to think of it… were you not called the prince of tea ceremonies?”
“Ah, you know about that?” he asked as he brushed a hair strand behind his flushed ear and avoided eye contact.
“It’s true, I used to wear that title when I was teaching at my grandfather’s school. I did not expect you to know about it though.”
Kuro’s mood seemed to dampen a bit at the mention of his family so Soichiro gave him a warm smile “My family is quite traditional too, they are big supporters of your grandfather’s school. Sadly I’m not particularly close to them anymore.”
He noticed how the other looked at him again, seemingly intrigued, so he assumed that Kuro could relate to that. Being pretty much cast out of your family was something that Soichiro struggled with to this day despite having found a new home in Café Parade, so he could sympathize with Kuro very well on this subject.
“Ah- but enough about that.” Soichiro smiled at the other with the intent of changing the subject to a more pleasant one. “The taste of the Daifuku isn’t the only thing that’s important, it has to look the part too.”
Soichiro took a small knife that was beside the little tray and carefully cut one of the treats in half, revealing the strawberry inside the Daifuku surrounded by the hand made matcha paste.
The subject change seemed to work as he saw Kuro's eyes light up again. The young man leaned forward to get a better look at the dessert and brushed his hair back.
"Oh it looks beautiful, Soichiro!"
He straightened up again, his heels softly clicking against the floor, and gave the patissier a delighted smile.
"I can really tell how much passion and love you put into these desserts, I'm really flattered that you went out of your way to make one specifically for me."
Soichiro couldn't help but smile back, hearing Kuro praise his work like that.
"I'd love to make more creations for you actually. I'd be delighted to be able to show you more of my passion and love."
Before Soichiro could ask Asselin to put a death curse on him out of embarrassment over having said such a cheesy and stupid line, he noticed Kuro blushing brightly.
The model's face was bright red in an instant and he tried to cover his face with his hands in an attempt to hide that. The patissier really thought he had gone too far for a second but Kuro lowered his hands again hesitantly and answered in a slightly shaky voice.
"I-I'd really like that."
Holy shit what. Soichiro was in utter disbelief that that actually worked. But he sure as hell wasn't gonna let this chance pass, so he gave the flustered young man a smirk.
"In that case, would you be alright with exchanging numbers? It looks like the others are ready to wrap it up for today."
As Kuro looked around, he realized Soichiro was right, the people seemed to get the empty dishes back into the kitchen and the first staff members started taking the decor off the set. The two of them had been so focused on eachother, that they barely noticed what’s been going on around them.
"Ah, of course!"
As Kuro handed him his phone, he seemed to have recovered from his embarrassment.
"But I am still very unused to using my cellphone, so it might take me a while to respond."
"Well then how about I call you later this evening to suggest a time for our date? That might make it easier for you."
Kuro's blush deepened again and he once again brushed his hair behind his ear at the word 'date', but this time he was quick to respond with a shy smile that made Soichiro's stomach flutter. He really couldn’t get over how cute Kuro was.
"That sounds lovely, thank you."
Soichiro returned the smile and put his number in, also saving Kuro's number in his own phone. He handed it back to the young man and opened his mouth to compliment Kuro some more when-
"Soichiro! We're packing up, go get your stuff!"
Saki swooshed by with multiple empty trays in his hands, very busy finishing up the cleanup.
Soichiro chuckled and shook his head. There was bound to be a limit to how much time Kamiya could buy for flirting but at least he made good use of it.
Kuro happily took the rest of the Daifuku made for him into his hands and bowed politely to Soichiro.
"I have to get changed too. Thank you a lot for the sweets and… for today in general. I had a lovely time talking to you."
"Likewise. Let's talk again later then, yes?"
"Yes, I'm looking forward to it!" Kuro noticed that he was nodding a little too eagerly at that thought and got flustered again.
"A-anyway, until later then!"
With one final bow, the young man turned and left towards the dressing room in those beautiful heels he was still wearing. Soichiro couldn't help but stare after him and really take in the form of those pants one last time before Kuro would go back to his usual wide clothing again. He really couldn’t wait to call him later this evening.
"So, you decided to finally listen to me, huh?"
"Yes. You're a better wing man than I thought."
Soichiro could hear the smirk in Kamiya's voice.
"You underestimate how well I know you, Shinonome."