Work Text:
Suga missed his bus. Again.
It wouldn’t be such a big deal- he’s shown up late for work before- but not today of all days! Because today was only the most important day of Suga’s life, literally. Today was the day Suga officially met with the other lawyers in the firm and assumed partnership alongside his father. Suga, who was now 29, had been working the past four years for this position, refusing to allow his father to just give him the position because he was born into the family. He started as a receptionist in high school and moved on to a paralegal and then all the way to where he was now. He had the most case wins in the history of the firm.
He was a ‘rising star’ in the lawyering world. But he couldn’t manage to show up on time for one goddamn bus.
Glancing at his wristwatch, Suga felt his heart beat faster with anxiety. There was no time to run to the nearest train station- it was a ten minute run and another half hour ride. He had a half hour, 35 minutes if he pushed it, to get to the firm and into the boardroom. Shifting his briefcase into his left hand, he pulled his cell phone from his pocket and flipped it open. Scrolling through his contacts, he hit dial on the first of many taxi services he had saved.
“Hello, Tokyo Area Transportation Office, how may I help you?” a pleasant voice greeted.
“Yes, hello!” Suga made an effort not to sound rude but still frantic. He needed this woman to understand how big of a deal this was. “I have missed my bus and I need you to send the closest car you have to get me to my meeting on time. Please,” he added, feeling that it wouldn’t hurt.
“Okay, I can do that. Can you tell me the address you are at?”
Suga rattled off the street name and house number. He could hear the clacking of keys in the background of the phoneline. A slight pause and then-
“Okay, you’re in luck, I have an on duty car pinpointed a few blocks away from you. I’ll page him to your location. Thank you for your patience and have a good day!”
“Thank you ,” Suga shot back reverently, breathing out a sigh of relief. The call ended and he flipped his phone shut, returning it to his pocket. He paced up and down the sidewalk in front of his house, scanning the road for an oncoming car. Sure enough, not two minutes later, a familiar green and yellow car approached the curb and stopped.
Suga fairly threw himself at the door of it, plopping himself into the backseat gracelessly, closing the door and straightening his suit as an afterthought. It wouldn’t do to show up to the meeting in a wrinkled suit.
“Where to?” a warm voice asked. Suga looked up to see the cabbie half-turned in his seat, a smile on his face. Suga forgot to breath. Holy crap, this guy was gorgeous !
“Uh…” he paused before mentally shaking himself. ‘Get it together, Koushi! You have a meeting- remember? Most important day of your life?!’ He took a breath and rattle off the address to the law firm. The cabbie nodded, not batting an eye at the fact that the firm was almost all the way across the city.
For the first minute or so, they sat in relative silence, the radio playing very softly and the hum of the car engine the only sounds. Then, the cabbie spoke up.
“So, a law firm, eh? Are you a lawyer, then?”
Suga smiled, relaxing now that he was almost certain he wouldn’t be late. “I am, actually. It’s the family business.”
“Ah,” the cabbie nodded. “I’m Sawamura Daichi, by the way.”
“Sugawara Koushi,” Suga smiled and met Sawamura’s eyes in the rearview mirror. Sawamura smiled at him in the mirror before refocusing on the road momentarily as they hit an intersection.
“Ah, Sugawara-san?”
“Yes?”
“If you don’t mind me asking… you seem really anxious. Is everything okay?” There was genuine concern in the man’s voice, his warm brown eyes flicking up to gaze through the mirror and watch as Koushi bit his lip and blushed.
“Ah, yeah,” Suga smiled a little sheepishly. “I freaked out a little because I missed my bus. I’ve been late before- it’s never that big of a deal- except today might be the most important day of my life and showing up late to it would be like a bad omen for the rest of my career.”
Sawamura hummed. “What’s so special about today?”
“I’m getting officially promoted as a partner in the firm alongside my father and my grandfather,” Suga smiled nervously and met the cabbie’s gaze through the mirror once more. “It’s what I’ve been aiming for since high school, so it’s kind of surreal that it’s finally happening.”
“Oh! That’s amazing!” Sawamura grinned. “You can’t be much older than, what, twenty four? That’s really impressive!”
“Actually,” Suga blushed. “I’m almost thirty. My birthday is in a couple weeks.”
“Really?” Sawamura looked genuinely shocked and Suga couldn’t help but feel flattered. “That’s still awesome, though! I don’t know you, but I can already tell how serious you are about this and how much work you’ve probably had to put in to get this far. Congratulations!”
“Thank you,” Suga nodded, flicking his gaze to his knees shyly. The praise was not unfounded or unwelcomed, just… embarrassing. And completely unexpected. It was rather nice, though, and Suga could feel his nerves easing slightly.
They chattered away about Suga’s job and how this promotion had some about for a little while, and before Suga knew it, he was laughing as Sawamura regaled him with stories of some of his more interesting customers.
“They didn’t even care that I was there!” Sawamura whined, a grin on his face as Suga doubled over with giggles. “They just kept making out and meowing at each other randomly!”
“That’s so weird!” Suga wheezed out.
“I know!” Sawamura responded indignantly, still smiling.
Suddenly, the cab slowed to a stop. Suga looked out the window and blinked in surprise- they were in front of his firm building already. He glanced at his watch- they’d made good time, too- he had at least five minutes before the meeting started, plenty of time to compose himself.
“How much do I owe you?” he asked. Sawamura rattled off a number ad Koushi handed his card through the slot. Sawamura swiped it and grinned.
“Do you want a receipt?”
“Sure,” Suga nodded. Sawamura nodded and Suga glanced over at the building, losing himself in thought momentarily as he remembered what he was there for. This was it- the day when his dream became a reality.
“Here,” Sawamura drew him from his thoughts, handing the card and paper receipt back to him. Suga smiled and took them before hopping out of the cab and waving as Sawamura drove off. Glancing down, he noticed there was something scrawled in pen on the back of the paper receipt.
(555)555-5555 - Sawamura Daichi
Call if you ever need a ride, or if you just want to talk. Maybe we could go to coffee sometime? :)
Suga smiled down and stuffed the paper and his card into his side pocket before grabbing his briefcase and fairly skipping to the front door of his office.
This really was one of the greatest days of his life…
So far.