Gift Fic for Yun_miyake

[aibamods]

Title: When Life gives you Lemons, make Lemonade
Rating: PG-13
Word count: ~ 73.800
Pairing: Junba main, Kaze friendship, Aimiya friendship, Sakumoto friendship, Sakumiya side
Warnings: slow cooked romance with a pinch of drama and a generous amount of chees ahead 

Summary: As teenage boys the two of them promised to open up a restaurant when they are grown up, together. Years later, their ways have long split and only one of them still remembers their promise. But then, they unexpectedly meet again. Will there be a chance to revive their joint dream?
This is a story about lost and found dreams, in which Aiba generally accepts fate but challenges it when needed, Nino gives his best to protect his best friend while having to deal with his new admirer, Sho; Jun is a gloomy but adventurous chef who tries to get on terms with his life, and Ohno figuratively connects the loose dots with his paint brush.


Notes:
My dear yun_miyake, I really hope this story will find your liking. It turned out longer than expected and I have to admit I struggled a bit because of that, but I'm proud I managed to pull it through. As mentioned in the warnings, this story is kind of slow burn but I put a lot of thoughts and love into the development of the plot and the characters, so I hope you will find it worthy to stick around until the very cheesy ending ;) 
Big big shouts out to my wonderful betas for keeping me motivated, pushing me when I felt stuck, all the lovely support in all forms and of course, the awesome beta work. You have no idea how grateful I am, this would not have been possible without you, thank you so much! Also, thank you to the Aiba mods for hosting this awesome event once again!


It was the summer holidays and they were just teenagers, but even years later; Aiba still remembered it like it was just yesterday. It was a wonderful, hot summer day, the cicadas were spreading their symphony over the streets, the familiar noise carried by the wind until it reached even the tiniest, hidden corner of their district. The red Japanese lanterns, which were hung between the front balconies of the houses lining the streets, and decorating the beautiful bridges spread over the river, were riding on a warm summer breeze as they lit up as soon as the sun started to set. The smell of street food was everywhere, a hint of salty fried noodles coming from one corner, the sweet scent of cotton candy and other popular treats from the other.

Aiba and his friends had been having fun for the whole day, happy that they didn’t have to attend school for the next couple of weeks, and no homework to do, at least not for today. They were having fun for hours, playing games and wetting their colourful kimonos while trying to catch goldfish, and eating delicious food. Aiba was convinced that this could be one of the best days of his life, until evening came and the darkness spread, until he finally had to accept the truth he was trying to avoid for the past few hours.

Because this was the day, on which he would have to part ways with the one he liked for so long now.

Of course, Aiba had never told this boy, who was one of his best friends that he was his first love. In fact, he only just realized it by himself a few weeks ago when he learned that his friend would be moving in the middle of the school year. The realization that they wouldn't be able to go to school together each and every morning, hang out together with their friends, graduate from the same school, that they would not even be able to finish growing up together, was knocking at the door stronger and stronger with each passing day, until the last evening together with his friend in this town arrived.

It was breaking Aiba's heart, and maybe, if he wasn't trying to be the happy guy, he was known to be, Aiba would be crying by now, as he stood right next to his friend, watching over the calm flowing river underneath their favourite bridge. However, he wanted to send his friend off with a smile. With a smile, and a promise. A promise, that would make sure they wouldn't let go of their dream.

The tiny red bridge had always been something special. It was not only famous for its beautiful view over the river that was finding its way through town in the form of a blue silent snake, but it was also known as a place for promises to be made and usually, it would be filled with couples and groups of friends, but on this evening, Aiba and his friend were lucky, being alone here, while everyone else was gathering downstream where the river would flow into the bay of Tokyo, anticipating the biggest event of the day to which the whole district had been looking forward to for the past few weeks.

Even if Aiba's friend had wanted to go there with the others, Aiba had somehow managed to persuade him to come with him. The view wasn't phenomenal from here, but at least, they would be alone and for him to carry out his plan, Aiba needed to be alone with his friend. He had taken his hand, his heart beating fast, and had guided him here, to this happy place, even if this time, for Aiba, it was a place touched by a hint of sadness, as it was probably the last time in a long while, that they would be able to come here.

The two boys had been growing up together for years, they shared the same circle of friends, the same teachers at school, the same memories of their hometown, all the fun things they had experienced, and all the beautiful places they had discovered. This bridge was only one of countless such places, and Aiba was really hoping that the memory that would be added to their collection, today, would be a good one too, despite the sad occasion.

Aiba took a deep breath, taking in the sweetness of the night's smell, He collected all his courage, and once he was ready, he turned around to his friend, and his smile was as bright and positive as possible.

"Promise, you'll come back one day," Aiba demanded, trying his best to make his voice sound as normal and stable as possible, even if deep inside he felt like crying.

"I promise," the other boy said, smiling back at him.

For a moment, Aiba really wondered, if his friend would miss him just nearly as much as he would miss his friend.

"And when you're back we will keep our promise and open a restaurant together," Aiba then added, reaching out the pinkie of his right hand, ready to seal their promise.

His friend smiled excited and hooked his own finger with Aiba's, completing their pinkie promise. They held onto each other’s fingers just for a little longer as needed before they broke apart again, chuckling.

"I can't wait!" the younger boy said and Aiba smiled, overly happy.

As the oldest child of a couple owning "Aiba's Izakaya", the most delicious small traditional Japanese restaurant in town, just a few streets away, he held pride in his parents' job and his position as their heir, but secretly, his dream was to find a new place together with this ambitious boy in front of him, and when his friend agreed to join his plan a while ago, it was one of the best days of Aiba's young teenage life, so far.

"Until then, we'll stay in contact, right?" he continued, the small lump in his throat starting to get bigger and his heart beating faster, again.

He swallowed, fisting his hand when he was about to reach out to his friend again to tug on his kimono's sleeve, but he didn't. He was scared of not being able to let go.

His friend nodded heavily.

"I'll text you every day, we can call each other or meet during holidays, and keep each other updated. It will be as if I'm not even gone, you'll see."

"Still, it will be different," Aiba said. "You'll be in a new place, you'll make new friends and I will root for you, but promise me you won't forget me, no matter what happens."

"I could never forget you, Aiba-chan," the boy replied with a warm smile. "No matter what happens."

There was the loud noise of the first exploding firework and when Aiba's friend turned his head to watch the colourful burst of sparkles in the darkening evening sky, the light falling onto the boy's fair face was exposing a few small tears forming in the corner of his eye.

Aiba's heart constricted and it was then, when he could not hold back any longer. He didn't know if his friend beared the exact same feelings as him, but he was sure that he wanted to make him stop crying, and to show him how serious he was about their promise. He could no longer pay attention to the tiny, decreasing voice of reason in his head that had been holding him back from this last step, which actually was not part of Aiba's plan, but right now, he couldn't care less. His almost bursting heart was taking over the control of his body

He leaned forward, his hands finding support on his friend's shoulder, who was still a few inches shorter than him, and when the slightly confused boy turned his head again, to send Aiba a questioning look, Aiba erased the remaining little distance between them.

Inexperienced and determined at the same time, Aiba placed his slightly trembling lips on top of his friend's. It was a short and innocent kiss, and it tasted a bit of chocolate, just like the chocolate glazed fruits the two boys shared just about half an hour ago. It was Aiba's first kiss ever, not counting the ones he practised secretly with a plush toy, so he had no idea if it was good or not, and he was unbelievably nervous about how his friend would react.

Fortunately, nothing bad happened. The boy didn't get pushed away, and even if the kiss did not deepen or anything, like those in Hollywood movies that Aiba and his friends found so cheesy, his friend did not seem averse to the gesture in any way. He even lifted his hand to shyly touch Aiba's elbow, holding on to it for support, his hand slightly shaking.

Another firework exploded in the distance, and another one, and when the two boys parted lips, Aiba was delighted to see that his friend wasn't crying anymore. Aiba smiled, slightly embarrassed, but happy, as he scratched the back of his neck and luckily, his friend, shyly mirrored the gesture.

Their hands found each other soon after, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Aiba carefully laced their fingers together and just like this, they were holding hands while watching the rest of the firework performance, which spread across the sky before them, as if to celebrate their promise with them.

Aiba didn't know how the next day would look like. He didn't know how much time would pass before he would have the chance to meet his friend again. To maybe even kiss him, just once more, if he wanted, that was. Maybe, they wouldn't talk about what happened, ever again, and pretend that nothing happened, but Aiba decided to hold onto the newly sprouting hope in his heart, regarding their promise, and maybe even regarding this new, exciting thing developing between them, even if it might last only for this night.

No matter how long it would take them to get to this same point again, their dreams and hearts combined, at this very moment, Aiba decided to wait for it, to wait for him, as long as necessary.

- - + - -

Aiba took in a deep breath, when he woke up to the sound of his favourite song.

His eyes were still closed, but he could sense the daylight flooding the room and his still tired mind, so he tried to squint his eyes and bring back the darkness, tried to move back in thoughts and time, just to stay a little longer where he had just been. Of course, it didn't work.

He sighed.

It wasn't a frustrated sigh, though. Rather, it was a sigh filled with nostalgia, this weird mix of sadness and happiness that used to overwhelm someone when thinking about specific happenings from the past. Aiba always felt it, when he dreamed of him. He regretted just for a tiny split second not being able to hold onto that particular moment for a little longer. He had to accept it, and he would. He would be able to visit that place in his mind again, sooner or later, for sure. Still, it made his heart cringe a little bit, but it also made him smile and feel warm, reaching out to that thin but still existing sprout of hope deep within his heart, making sure that he would return to this moment, over and over. Even, if it was just a memory, it was precious to him.

Finally, the young man snapped open his eyes and reached for his cell phone to switch off the alarm clock he had set to start off the new day. He didn't need to hit the snooze bottom, it was enough for him to roll himself around one time in his bed, to stretch his tired limbs and release a loud yawn. Soon, he could feel the energy return to his body, turning him into a functional human being, who would make sure to make the best out of the upcoming day.

Just a few minutes later, Aiba was dressed in some comfy jeans and T-shirt, and brushing his teeth with a huge amount of foam covering his mouth, while he was critically inspecting the messy brown mob of bed hair on top of his head, standing on end. He took his small comb and straighten it a little bit, just to make it look a bit neater. Better, he thought, grinning at his mirror image, just to realize how the foamed-up toothpaste started running down his chin. He quickly jerked forward to make sure not to spill anything onto the floor, and hurried to finish up so he could go downstairs.

He carefully peaked into the half-opened room at the end of the stairs to see that his parents were still sleeping (snoring, in case of his father), probably for another hour or two, until Aiba finished preparations for a new day in their restaurant. As the son of the owners and the heir of their izakaya, ever since graduating from high school, the young man had taken over the task of setting everything up in the morning, making sure the restaurant was cleaned and the kitchen equipped with fresh supplies to serve all their customers throughout the day and night.

The man remembered his parents doing this task for a long time, getting up early, and going to bed late at night, while taking care of their child and the restaurant, and so, Aiba was happy and proud to be able to give something back to his parents, grateful for their hard work. Even if his father continued to scold him for not chopping the vegetables and fish for their famous sushi in perfect shape, and his mother had to show him how to fold the table napkins in her preferred way, over and over, Aiba knew that deep inside, his parents were as happy to share their job with him, as he was to share it with them, and to learn from their experience and upgrade his own skills accordingly, every day just a little bit more. And maybe one day, he would be able to take over his parent's restaurant.

As soon as Aiba went down the stairs and into the restaurant, he was greeted by the usual view. The silent, empty izakaya was decorated with just a small amount of simple details and in traditional style. The bar was dark and cosy at this hour, with just a few rays of the early sunlight falling through the windows at the front of the restaurant, warming the place. It was so different from later in the day, appearing to be so much more spacious than when it was crowded with people, and Aiba had to admit, that even if he loved it when the place was loud and lively, he also enjoyed the morning silence.

Today though, the picture was painted a bit differently, as apparently, Aiba's best friend and house mate, Nino, was already up and awake, busy wiping the table surfaces and setting them up with containers filled with new chopsticks and freshly washed spoons. It was an unusual sight, even if it wasn't uncommon for the young man to help the Aibas out in the restaurant, it was rather unlikely for him to get up earlier than – Nino's words – "Early Bird Aiba Masaki".

For Nino, it was much more common to work through the nights, either on papers or movie studies for his college projects, and only getting up between 9 and 11 am, with huge dark circles around his eyes, and just in time to grab a slice of toast to gulp down while running to catch the train to his campus.

But not today, apparently.

"Good morning," Nino said, just when Aiba wanted to open his mouth to greet his friend.

"Good morning," the other man returned the greeting with a soft smile as he came closer. "Why are you up so early? You don't need to do this, you know?" Aiba pointed at the wooden containers the young man was carrying around.

"I couldn't sleep, my brain was driving me crazy because of the assignment I need to finish, so I decided I need a break…," Nino replied, slightly rolling his eyes to indicate his stress level.

College must be hard, Aiba assumed, once more.

"Then why are you setting up the tables and not concentrating on your assignment?" the young man smiled, reaching out to take one of the containers from his friend in order to give him a hand.

Nino's lips formed a warm smile. "It's the least I can do for you and your family."

Aiba giggled, ruffling his hand lovingly through the uncombed black mob of Nino's hair.

"You know, my parents see you like their own son and not just someone who rents a room at their place and has to work his ass off early in the morning to make up for it. That's my job, actually."

"I know, I know," Nino chuckled, trying to tame his hair a little with one hand. "Then, let me act like a good son and help out when I can."

"Sure, I appreciate your help, thanks," Aiba smiled softly.

It has been a couple of years now, since Nino moved into the Aiba's place, who indeed welcomed him like a family member, but sometimes the younger man still acted like a stranger in this house.

Aiba could understand where this was coming from, since Nino grew up in an orphanage and had been there since a young age with nothing but the memory of not being wanted by his parents anymore. Since then, Nino had developed the idea that he was a burden, but for Aiba, he had always been one of the most important people in his life. More than that, he had become like a little brother to him and he had never ever see him as a burden. The two of them had grown up together since they met on the first day at school, playing together, taking care of each other and protecting each other from bullies. Their bond had grown stronger over the years. So much that it was just natural for Aiba to ask his parents to let Nino live with them the moment they graduated from high school together.

At first, Nino was hesitated to accept his best friend's invitation, but in the end, at the age of almost eighteen, he had to consider leaving the orphanage as soon as possible, in order to make space for younger children who needed the place more urgently than him. He had nowhere to go and nothing to lose, so in the end, he accepted the Aiba family's kind offer, and moved into their place, right into the spare bedroom next to Aiba's. Having nothing more to offer than his friendship to their son, Nino promised to work in their izakaya to earn his keep, but the Aibas were much more interested in supporting Nino's dream of going to film school. When he managed to get a scholarship at the film school nearby, Aiba and his parents were as proud of Nino as if he was a real member of the family. Still, he tried to help out in the izakaya as often as possible, doing chores in the kitchen or serving guests during the busy evening hours. And since he was quite good at it, he had grown into an irreplaceable part, not only in the Aiba family, but also in the restaurant crew.

Sometimes, Aiba thought, Nino felt guilty for leaving most work to him and his parents, especially since he started attending college, but in his opinion, Nino earned every chance he had, by studying extra hard to get the best grades in class and even getting a scholarship to go to film school and fulfil his dream. Probably, Aiba should even use Nino as an example for his own case and not give up following his childhood dream of opening his own restaurant one day. However, things had changed, he thought, as the memories of the dream he had last night rolling over him once more. There was the responsibility he held towards his family and their own restaurant. He was supposed to become his parents' successor after all, and there was no place for silly childhood dreams, and he was only being realistic here. Still, it wasn't a crime to remember the nice feelings of having such dreams, and of making promises, right?

When Nino nudged his friend in the side and Aiba turned to him, pulled out of his thoughts, he could see his friend pulling one corner of his lips into a cheeky smirk.

"Did you dream of him again?" Nino asked, lifting his eyebrows at his friend, compassionately.

"How can you tell?" Aiba asked, blushing a little. He wasn't surprised by his friend's reaction, but still amazed how quick he was with catching the situation. They probably knew each other too well already.

"Your smile," Nino just replied, turning his head to focus back on his task from before, onto the next table in reach.

"I'm always smiling in the morning, because you never know what good things will happen, if you face life with a smile," Aiba grinned, pointing his index fingers at his own cheeks and showing his white teeth as if to prove his point.

"I know but… it's a special smile," the other man insisted.

Honestly, Aiba had not even noticed that he had been smiling differently from usual, but he didn't see the point in denying the truth any longer, so he just shrugged, allowing his mouth to find back its former smiling shape, and leaned back against the bar in a comfortable position that allowed him to wallow a little longer in his favourite memories.

"Well, I did."

Nino hummed, pushing a wooden container a little further back on the table in front of him to place it perfectly in the middle.

"You miss him, don't you?" the young man then added.

"Of course. Every day," Aiba replied quickly, before he realized what he was actually answering. He cleared his throat. "He was part of the clique," he continued, trying to sound nonchalant. "You miss him too, don't you?"

"Probably not as much as you do...," his friend replied with a sigh – a frustrated sigh – before he looked at Aiba again, his eyebrows furrowed in a mixture of a sorrowful and slightly pissed off expression. "He should call sometimes, at least. Or text. Or just give a sign that he's still alive, you know?"

"It's not like he's obliged to," the other man answered, even if he knew that Nino only meant well. They did have this discussion multiple times already, and he knew what to expect.

"But you are friends. We're all friends. Still, for years – nothing from his side," the younger man started his usual rambling.

"We shouldn't take it personal," Aiba repeated what he used to say in this situation. Nino was right, but Aiba had learned to deal with it. There’s no point whining over spilled milk. "He must be busy. I'm sure he's working hard. And probably busy with friends… new friends. You know how it works when people move, and it's been years. It can't be helped."

"It feels wrong, though," Nino said, "And I swear, if he ever has the guts to come back, I'll read him the riot act!"

Aiba just chuckled, deciding to accept Nino's ramble as his way to show Aiba his support in this matter, by siding with him and speaking what Aiba didn't even want to think. For Nino, due to his own traumatic experience as a child, being left behind by a beloved person, or being let down, was at the top of the list of things people should never do to each other, and even if it was technically not their childhood friend's fault that he had to move away, Aiba could understand Nino's bitterness about the lost friendship, especially, since he knew exactly, how much it had meant to Aiba back then. With a gesture filled of brotherly love, Aiba messed up the young man's hair once more, just to smile at Nino's cute pout that followed, before he tried fixing it again.

They finished setting up the tables before Aiba asked Nino to accompany him to go and pick up his daily order of fresh vegetables, fish and meat from the nearby morning market. Usually, he would take care about the task just by himself, having stuff that was too heavy to bring it back to the restaurant alone be carried by some boys who were grateful for some small extra pocket money. However, it was always more fun to explore the market together with a friend so Aiba was really happy, when Nino agreed to accompany him.

The two men stepped outside onto the streets, and wrapped their thin jackets around them as a shield to protect them from the crisp air. The soft jingle of the entrance door's bell was resonating in their ears, before slowly fading and getting replaced by the noises of the awakening surroundings, welcoming them. The tradespeople from the shops in the neighbourhood were slowly but surely getting up one after another to start opening their doors, taking out garbage, redecorating their shop windows and preparing their shops for their first customers. 

A green small van pulled closer, using the early hours which actually allowed vehicles to enter the pedestrian zone for delivery purpose, and stopped right in front the shop next to the izakaya. Aiba and Nino waved their hands at the young woman sitting behind the steering wheel – their old friend Yuriko, daughter and successor of the flower shop next door.

"Good morning, guys!" the cheerful young woman greeted her friends as she climbed out of the car. "How rare to see you going out together so early in the morning."

This was obviously directed to Nino, but the man didn't mind and just flashed her a smile before she turned to open the back of the van to unload tall buckets filled with bunches of colourful fresh flowers that she placed in front of her shop's window.

"Those sunflowers look amazing!" Aiba said, nodding at the bright yellow flowers, "Right, Nino?"

Yuriko flashed him a wide smile. "I'll bring some over to the izakaya before I open up," she promised and Aiba beamed, nodding gratefully.

When another man entered the scene through the front door of the flower shop, nodding at Aiba and Nino, who returned the greeting, the young woman stood up straight. She took a deep breath and sent a squinted look at the newcomer. His hair looked still disheveled from sleep and his apron, which was part of the flower shop's uniform, was actually put on inside out as the seams of the green fabric indicated, if someone looked closely.

"You're up late, sleepyhead," the woman scolded the man. "I had to go and get all these flowers by myself. Look at you, Toma, when will you learn to get up early in the morning?" she continued complaining, but her hands were already busy with fixing the man's apron with gestures speaking of care and affection.

"I know, darling, I'm sorry," the man responded in a soft voice while letting her proceed to try and fix the mess of his hair, too. In the end, the sleepy smile on his lips was seemingly enchanting enough for Yuriko to give up being annoyed by the "late riser", and she even smiled back, when he added, "I made breakfast."

"Thank you, Toma," the woman said appreciating, knowing how lucky she actually was to have such a caring husband.

The two of them were newly-weds for just a couple of months, and only a few weeks before their wedding, Toma moved into Yuriko and her parents' place to enter the family business and support his chosen one not only in her private life but also with her job. They were supposed to take over the shop together, eventually, however, the man still had to get used to working at such early hours. Toma exchanged a short nod with Nino, who understood this kind of pain very well, before starting to help his wife by taking the flower buckets into the shop.

"Oh, by the way," Yuriko said, as Aiba was about to say good bye and continue his way to the market, "Did you see that the new restaurant at the other end of the street is supposed to open up really soon. When driving by I just saw someone hanging up a poster with the date of the opening on the front door. I already forgot the exact date, but it must be within the next few days."

"Oh, really?" Aiba asked, curiously. "It's finally time..."

"They surely couldn’t find a better place to open their restaurant, could they?" Nino dropped sarcastically from the side, crossing his arms.

"Don't be like that, Nino," his friend immediately cut in.

"Like what?" the other man arched an eyebrow.

Aiba just mirrored the gesture. Nino knew exactly what he meant. He wasn't stupid. The people from the new restaurant surely were nice people and hardworking, just like Aiba's family and Nino and it couldn't be helped when new shops or restaurants opened in this area from time to time.

Nino shrugged, hinting a roll of his eyes. "Sorry, I wished I was as optimistic as you about this whole thing, but I'm just being realistic. We don't need two restaurants so close to each other. They will just steal our guests!"

"Those guests who truly love your restaurant – including me and Toma, by the way - will continue coming to the izakaya, right, Aiba-chan?" Yuriko intervened.

"And it will be a friendly co-existence, so there's no need to worry, you'll see," Aiba continued, nodding heavily.

"We'll see," Nino added, skeptically.

The two men finally bid farewell, and continued strolling down the street, Nino in a slightly grumpy mood, while Aiba was simply being curious, speeding up his steps involuntarily. In fact, he couldn't wait to check out the poster of the new restaurant, as well as their progress. The last time he checked, the shop windows were still covered with sticky paper all over from the inside, to prevent curious people – like himself, probably – from peeking through.

When they finally reached the spot – it was located right at the edge of two crossing streets in the centre of the pedestrian zone, admittedly a very well-frequented spot and a smart position to choose – there was indeed a colourful poster hanging up at the entrance door, not to be overlooked.

It showed the name of the restaurant on top - "Wagamama Kitchen", Aiba could almost hear Nino biting his lips not to say anything disrespectful about the, well, funny name – on a white background with thick red and purple brushstrokes of paint. In the middle of the poster, there was the stunning image of a single piece of nigiri sushi covered with a piece of avocado and tuna as well as some black sesame seeds sprinkled on top, the whole topping forming the shape of a slice of watermelon. Underneath, it was written "We are opening on Friday, come and taste our uniqueness!".

"Watermelon," Nino whispered in disbelief, his arms crossing in front of his chest, shaking his head slightly, "That's sushi, for god's sake, why would you make it look like watermelon?" 

"It's indeed unique, you have to admit," Aiba simply replied instead of hopping onto the wave of negative vibes Nino was emitting.

In fact, Nino was not the only one being critical about the new restaurant and it didn't even have to do anything with fruit-shaped sushi or things like that. While he and Aiba's parents were fearing the new restaurant as a threat (Aiba's father more than his mother, though), Aiba was actually excited about what was to come. As always, when something new happened in their area. For him, it was interesting to meet new people, they might be even make new friends with the owner of the restaurant and most likely, even more people would be drawn to their shopping district by the new attraction, which would eventually fill up the streets with new life and maybe even introduce their izakaya to more people.

Aiba knew, he was leaning towards an optimistic way of viewing things, something he learned from his mother, but that was his choice on how to live life, and so far, he never regretted it. There was no use in fearing unknown things, and there was no need to assume the worst-case scenario for everything that took place. Aiba wasn't scared to lose anything with change, he was just curious about what fate would bring and he was convinced that in the end it would lead to something good.

Apparently though, Nino, who so often tended to see the negative aspect in things and overthink simply everything, still preferred to ignore his friend's positive comment and continued nagging about the situation, as the disapproving clicking of his tongue indicated. He stepped closer, trying to inspect the insides of the restaurant, and although the sunlight was strongly reflecting from the clear windows, it seemed like he could catch a glimpse of what was going on inside.

"Do you see the interior? It looks super weird," Nino said, frowning. To get a better view, he stepped even closer, until he was almost pressing his nose against the glass window. "They are trying so hard to be hip and modern while actually – Oh my Gosh!"

Nino backed off, almost losing his balance and stumbled against Aiba, who caught his shoulders with his warm hands and threw him a confused look. Nino just opened his mouth, voicelessly, and pointed at the window in front of him. Aiba squinted his eyes to figure out what his friend was pointing at, and in the end, his eyes caught some movement behind the glass. Apparently, someone had stepped into the light. The man – probably around their age – was wearing a broad friendly smile on his face and dressed in a neat dark suit with a white shirt underneath and a crimson necktie completing the image.

"The heck, that guy surprised me," Nino exhaled before turning back to the shop window.

Aiba laughed. "Guess, he was not less surprised to see you almost licking the shop window."

Nino sighed. The stranger was still there, and now he was even waving his hand at them through the window. Nino cringed slightly, his cheeks covered in a light blush from the embarrassment that was rushing through him at that very moment.

"He must be the new owner," Aiba assumed.

"Very likely, if he's not a psycho who broke in there," Nino noted sarcastically, indicating that he was ready to walk away, but then, instead of following him, his friend lifted his hand and actually started waving back at the guy in the restaurant.

"What are you doing?!" Nino asked, goggling at Aiba as if he had gone crazy. "He's our rival!"

"He seems nice," Aiba smiled.

"He seems like a creep! You should stop waving at him, this is just awkward," the smaller man continued, stunned.

"Maybe we should knock on the door and say Hello," his friend suggested.

Nino's annoyed look spoke volumes though, and so, after waving his hand one last time, Aiba gave in and followed his friend. Surely, there would be another chance, soon enough, to greet their new neighbours appropriately, soon enough.

- - + - -

The next day, Aiba took the chance and used the closing hours of the izakaya between 4 and 6 pm to go buy some snacks at the nearby conbini – the only one that had Aiba's favourite type of potato crisps. He wanted to share them with Nino while watching a movie together, which the other had to check and review for his homework. It had become somewhat of a ritual for the two friends to watch those things together, if time allowed, and since Aiba was almost as much of a movie nerd as Nino, the latter tried his best to time everything for both of their convenience.

When Aiba exited the small shop, ready to sprint home so that he and Nino would manage finish watching the planned movie in time before Aiba had to start preparing for the evening at the restaurant, something happened, something that he would have never expected.

He met him again.

Actually, Aiba would have probably completely missed him, if the man passing by had not pushed his hair out of his face in the very moment Aiba spotted him. The man revealed a profile, which triggered something in Aiba, just for a split second, that he could hardly grasp but also just could not ignore. Looking back, Aiba wouldn't even be surprised if he really missed him, just due to the fact that he had changed quite a bit. More than expected, at least. Still, Aiba's eyes couldn't betray him. Even if the man was passing by so casually, even if he had grown much taller than Aiba imagined, he recognized something about him, instantly, and it made his heart race.

He was back. He was back! The voice inside of Aiba yelled, almost deafening. He couldn't believe it. Thoughts, feelings, questions flooded his mind, all at once. How was he, where had he been, what was he doing back here, and why hadn’t he called Aiba to tell him he was dropping by in his old neighbourhood? Why didn't he actually show up at Aiba's place?

In shock, Aiba dropped his bag, and while he quickly bent down to pick it back up, cursing inwardly and hoping that he didn't ruin the snacks inside, the man in front of him - carrying a bag filled with groceries and other supplies by himself, with his ears were covered with head phones – turned around in surprise and looked at Aiba, who – instead of watching his fallen snacks, immediately met his eyes and was not able to look away anymore, as if he was enchanted.

Aiba must be blushing a little, at least, his face felt hot when he realized he was still staring at the young man, while the said man bent down, and picked up an item that had rolled a bit further away from Aiba. He stepped towards him and reached his hand out to give the item back to its owner.

"Oh," Aiba was pulled out of his trance, and with his heart beating like crazy, he reached out to take the snack and slightly embarrassed pushed it back into the plastic bag. "Thank you, sorry, I'm just too clumsy...".

"Don't mention it," the man in front of him flashed him a smile and slightly shook his head to indicate that there was no problem.

He was already about to turn around and go, faster than Aiba could think of anything else to say and make him stay. Probably, to the surprise of Aiba, he had not recognized his old friend, but then right now, even more so, Aiba had to do something before the moment was gone.

"Wait!"

Aiba stepped forward, following the again increasing speed of his heartbeat, reaching out his hand to snatch the edge of the man's long-sleeved shirt, holding him back and causing him to face him once more, completely confused over what was going on.

"Please, wait...," Aiba repeated, triggering an even stronger frown on the young man's forehead.

Locking eyes with that man once again, for a moment, Aiba had to stop to breathe. He had changed, Aiba had to admit. He had become so tall, it was almost ridiculous. His face had grown long and mature, and there was not much left from the childish facial features. That cute small round face Aiba remembered so well had turned into one incredibly handsome adult, but the particular shape of his lips – the first lips that Aiba had ever kissed - had stayed the same as the small cute moles around them, and those breathtaking piercing brown eyes that Aiba loved so much. Those characteristics, he would never forget.

Still, something was off. The man's eyes did not mirror Aiba's feeling of recognition. That man in front of him had literally no idea what was happening, and what Aiba could possibly want from him.

"Excuse me?" the young man finally asked, confused. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

Aiba took a deep breath and his heart constricted. Did he change so much that his childhood friend did not recognize him? Did he just throw him off guard so much that he was simply too surprised to figure out what was going on? Or did Aiba actually mistake a stranger for his first love? No, he couldn't be mistaken. It was him, even the sound of his voice – although it had become deeper – was the same. There was no doubt.

"What are you doing here?" Aiba asked, ready to slap himself for the stupid question. This was probably not the best way to start a conversation with an old friend who didn't recognize him. He could really come off as weird, or at least impolite.

"Uhm... I just moved here," the man replied, sending Aiba a slightly irritated look, before he raised his thick eyebrows and added, "Do you jump on everyone who is new in town?"

"Ah, I'm sorry if I surprised you," Aiba said, chuckling softly in an attempt to recollect himself and forcing himself to give his usual warm smile. "But, you are Jun, aren't you?"

Of course, he was, Aiba thought, who else could he be? And he would recognize Aiba in a second, or at the least when Aiba introduced himself again, and they would fall into each other's arms and hug each other close, cheering into each other's ears as loud as if they were back to being children, celebrating their reunion.

"I am," the man in front of Aiba confirmed and Aiba's heart jolted. "And you are -?"

"It's me, Aiba, you remember? Gosh, it's been so long, I can't believe -"

His smile grew wider and his heart was beating faster and faster from the excitement, but when he took another step forward in order to throw his arms around his friend and welcome him appropriately, the other man - Jun, as he just had confirmed – backed off.

"Sorry...Who?"

The man's face was painted with confusion and aversion and Aiba, his heart suddenly feeling like it was pierced by a knife, had no other choice but to let his arms drop back down, looking at Jun just as confused as the other was looking at him right now. He gulped, his throat suddenly feeling awfully dry, as he tried to find back his self-composure, but the shock was too deep, and his voice was almost lost when he tried to reply.

"I'm Aiba Masaki...," he repeated. "You know, from the izakaya," he weakly pointed behind him into the direction of said restaurant. "We went to school together, we were friends, we -" made a promise when you left Aiba wanted to add, but when he realized that there was still no hint of recognition in Jun's eyes, his voice broke.

Hearing Jun's next words hurt so much that Aiba wanted to cry.

"I am really sorry, but I do not know anyone by that name. I have to go now, so... please excuse me...," the man said with an apologetic look on his face. "Good evening."

He nodded slightly towards Aiba before turning around and putting his headphones back on.

He left, his back becoming smaller and smaller the further he walked away. Aiba was still standing there, staring after him, until Jun completely vanished behind the next corner.

Aiba had no recollection of how his feet managed to bring him home after the shocking encounter, but apparently, judging from Nino's complains when he entered his room, it must have taken him quite some time. His friend was already waiting for him, the movie ready in the Bluray-player and some ice tea ready for them to drink placed on the coffee table. It took Nino just a few seconds to realize that something was wrong. Horribly wrong. He jumped up immediately, dashing towards his friend, just in time to catch Aiba when his jelly knees finally gave in and he sank to the floor.

Something that usually took watching a sappy or emotionally movie together with his best friend happened next. Tears started clouding his view and it didn't take long before Aiba found himself bawling his eyes out, Nino's arms wrapped around him, doing his best to soothe him while trying to find out what happened. He just couldn't take it any longer. He couldn't believe what had just happened.

It took Aiba a few more minutes to calm down and stop crying, and thankfully, Nino had stopped pressuring him to explain what happened, but there was still complete confusion and worry written all over the younger man's face. He brushed a last few tears out of the corner of his eye, and sniffled one more time before he took a deep breath and gave Nino a smile, which he noticed must have failed halfway.

"I'm sorry," Aiba said, before Nino could even ask again what was wrong. "I'm fine, don't worry," he added, but his friend's face clearly showed that he didn't believe a single word, so he tried harder. He chuckled, trying to hide his pain. "I guess, I'm just in shock. You know... I met him. And... he didn't recognize me."

"You met who?" Nino asked, still utterly confused.

"Jun."

He told his friend everything about the meeting ("Are you sure, it's our Jun?" - "One hundred percent!") and then had to spend the next forty minutes listening to Nino exploding over the outrageous fact that their old friend seemingly didn't recognize Aiba. ("As if anyone could ever forget someone like you!").

Aiba felt kind of lucky to have a friend who turned so emotional about something bad that happened to him, but soon, his mind trailed off from Nino's rant, distracted by questions he found more important than why Jun did not recognize him.

What was Jun doing back here? What did he experience while he was gone? And even more importantly, would he stay this time?

- - + - -

Luckily, Aiba was not a child of sadness, so usually, it didn't take long for him to overcome an emotional down time and find back his cheerful and positive self. It was also the case this time, after he recovered from the shock from the disastrous encounter with Jun.

Admittedly, the first night, Aiba wasn't really able to sleep, tossing and turning in his room, trying to figure out in his brain, how it was possible for Jun to have forgotten him. But Aiba refused to believe that their friendship meant so little to his friend, that it was simply that – a forgotten childhood friendship. Maybe, he really had changed so much that his friend didn't recognize him. Maybe, he had been too direct. However, Aiba was surely motivated to get up the next day and go find Jun, to try talking to him again. There was no way that they couldn't manage to figure this out and Aiba was sure that soon enough, he, Nino and Jun would be able to revive their old friendship. And maybe...

Aiba's heart started beating faster just by the simple thought of the possibility of getting closer to Jun again. He wondered, if Jun was still single, and if he would remember the kiss they shared on the red bridge nearby. It had been years ago, but when Aiba closed his eyes, it felt like it had only been yesterday.

It didn't take much for Aiba's imagination to run wild. In his head, soon, the innocent kiss he and Jun shared as teenagers, developed into a hot kiss between two grownups. It was easy to picture Jun in front of his inner eye, Aiba figured. The image of Jun as an adult, with his mature features, the perfect face and those wonderful, kissable lips, were burnt into his memory, and yes, it was very exciting to fantasize about kissing such a gorgeous, good-looking man. It made Aiba feel hot and very excited... 

But no, stop! He shouldn't be thinking in this direction, yet. As for now, there was simply no reason to let his hopes get carried away.

"It's naïve," Aiba had told his heart, to calm it down and finally be able to find some sleep.

"I don't care," Aiba's heart replied, and the man felt his cheeks blushing again.

However, the next few days became so busy that Aiba simply didn't have the chance to complete his plan on going out and finding Jun again, even less, putting it into action.

On a positive note, it was even too busy for Nino to keep on ranting about the situation, as the young man was rotating between tables to serve guests in the izakaya and working on his movie review for film school. Aiba and his parents also had their hands full with cooking, delivering orders, and doing whatever job that needed to be done in the restaurant. On one hand, Aiba didn't mind, the distraction came welcomed and the passing time helped him to view the thing with Jun with more distance, but on the other hand, it didn't solve the problem of course.

It was only a couple of days later, when finally, things seemed to calm down a little, and it was the first time, Aiba actually had time to sit down and take a proper break.

"It's quiet," Nino stated, as he woke up from a nap he had taken at the izakaya's bar, to be at least physically present to serve guests when needed, after a long stint of working on his homework at night, and found himself in an almost empty place.

There was only a group of three old men sitting a few seats away from him, who always came here to eat lunch and spend the early afternoon sharing some chit chat about their families and their newest additions. It was like a bragging contest about whose grandchild was cuter, and Aiba found that adorable. Probably, also the apprentice from a nearby shop had already come to pick up a bunch of lunch boxes, as usual, but besides that, the restaurant was empty.

"You should be happy that today is not such a stressful day," Aiba, who was wiping the working surfaces behind the bar, said, flashing his best friend a cheerful smile. "You can continue your nap, if you feel like it. I can manage this alone."

"No... no," Nino shook his head, still a bit dizzy from sleep. "What I mean is, it's... too empty. Don't you agree?" He darted a look at the clock on the wall. The time that was displayed on the clock's face made him look around, as if searching for someone, but when he couldn't spot him, he turned to Aiba with a questioning look. "Has Ohno-san shown up for lunch already?"

Aiba paused for a moment. "No... he hasn't."

"That's strange."

Aiba tilted his head, frowning slightly. Now that Nino mentioned it, this was indeed strange.

Ohno Satoshi, who was a true artist, painting and sculpting things that humankind still had to imagine, and was highly successful doing so, was located just a few doors away, where he had opened up an atelier as well as a private gallery featuring his work, changing the display every few months. Ever since he moved here a few years ago, the man used to come to eat and drink in Aiba's family's restaurant at least once a day. He might not always be on time, since – paraphrasing him – his creative nature didn't follow any rules or time schedules, but usually, his assistant Ishihara Satomi would pull him inside the izakaya around 2 pm at the latest, to make sure that the artist didn't forget to follow the essential needs, like eating and staying hydrated. Today, even though it was almost 3 pm already, there was no Ohno and Ishihara in sight.

Speaking about the devil, it took just a few more minutes though, before the door of the izakaya flew open, triggering the small bell at the entrance to jingle like crazy to announce a new customer, who actually appeared in the form of said artist. Not without being pulled at his ear by a young, energetic woman with long brown hair and an angry face. Her full red lips pouting, obviously mad at the man she had with her.

Aiba and Nino exchanged a surprised look before they focused back on the scene before them, Ishihara stopping in front of the bar and finally letting go off Ohno's reddened ear, whose face was distorted to a painful expression. His eyes were squinted, his nose wrinkled, and his lips parted in a silent scream. Finally, while lifting his hands carefully to cover his ear, the man released a noise, but he sounded rather like a wincing cat than a human being.

"So?!" the woman turned to Ohno, her face still angry, as she pushed her hands into her sides and nodded at him, challenging. "I expect you to apologize to Aiba-san and Ninomiya-san!"

Again, Aiba met Nino's eyes. They had no idea what was going on. Ohno pouted and with his hair standing on edge and his white overall covered all over in multiple shades of paint, he resembled more a stubborn little boy than a grown man.

"Satoshi!" Ishihara almost screamed at him.

"It's OK, Ishihara-san please, calm down," Aiba finally stepped in, holding up his hands in a soothing gesture, and offering the young woman a soothing smile. "No matter what happened, I'm sure, we can sort this out."

"Apologize for what?!" Ohno finally spoke up, one of his hand still pressed against his hurting ear as he darted an enraged look at his assistant. "I was just eating. Usually, you yell at me if I don't eat, what's your problem!?" the artist lamented. He turned to Nino, adding in a lower tone, "Seriously, I don't understand women..."

"You ate in that restaurant, that's my problem!" Ishihara clamored. "You've betrayed them!"

"Wait...," Nino turned to Aiba, whispering. "Today is Friday, isn't it?"

"Yes, Friday, why?" Aiba lifted his eyebrows, wondering about the weird question, until it finally dawned on him. "Oh..."

It was the day of the new restaurant's opening. How could he even have forgotten?! This did not only explain the absurd scene right in front of him right now, but also the fact that the izakaya was practically empty today.

While Nino sighed heavily, Aiba started chuckling, and when his initial chuckle developed into a full laughter, the bickering between Ohno and Ishihara that had continued for the last few seconds suddenly broke off, as the two turned to the young man, confused.

"So what do you think about the new restaurant, Ohno-san?" Aiba asked, smiling, as he found back his composure and finally put out some warm hand towels and two cups of tea to offer his two guests, who no longer found any reason not to settle on the high stools at the bar in front of their host.

"Uhm... It's nice," Ohno replied, a bit insecure but honest, just to earn a poke in the cheek by his assistant, who he punished with an angry look before focusing back on Aiba. "The place is very modern, and their menu is really interesting. It's very different -"

Ishihara poked him, again.

"I said different, not better, now stop looking at me like this, would you?!" Ohno snapped, reaching his hand to poke back, the woman fighting him off with her hands.

"What did you eat?" Aiba asked, curiously.

"I tried ramen à la France," the artist answered truthfully.

"That doesn't sound like ramen!" Nino cut in immediately, skepticism painted all over his face.

Ohno lifted his hand, placing his chin on it while making a thinking gesture. "Well, it was very... fancy."

"Fancy?" Aiba asked and Nino frowned. Surely, he was thinking about the image of the watermelon sushi from the restaurant's poster he and Aiba saw just a few days ago, too.

"It looked fancy," Ohno continued. "They used some pretty uncommon ingredients too, and the arrangement was very artistic, like... yeah, more like art than actually something to eat. The taste wasn't bad either, but I still like your ramen best, Aiba-kun."

"Really? Thank you!" Aiba beamed and in return earned a sincere smile from the artist in front of him.

"I still can't believe that he went out by himself just to check out that new restaurant, though" Ishihara continued complaining after taking a sip of tea.

Aiba just waved his hand. "I don't blame you, Ohno-san. You are free to go eat wherever you want, and to be honest, I truly understand that people are curious when a new place opens."

"I'm glad you view it like that, Aiba-kun," the artist nodded at him, appreciating, before sending a side glance to Ishihara, who rolled her eyes, unnerved. "That's a very mature point of view."

"Not very business friendly, though," Nino aimed a small teasing comment at his best friend, who just smiled at him, though.

"I'd like to order some matcha ice cream for dessert, please," Ohno then said. He exchanged a look with his assistant, who now didn't look as angry any longer, but was still slightly pursing her lips. "Two servings."

- - + - - 


"I thought you didn't want to go and check out the new place?" Aiba asked, when Nino used the not so busy hours before lunchtime on the next day to drag him along. "Didn't you say something about I should not even think about spending one single yen in that crummy place? What about that now?"

The day before, Nino was so against the idea of paying a quick visit to their new rival, so it took Aiba completely off guard when his friend actually suggested exactly that after breakfast. He had to admit, though, that he didn't mind the situation at all. Honestly, he was probably the most curious about the new restaurant, especially after Ohno's description of their apparently very modern, strange food creations. However, from time to time, Aiba had fun teasing Nino.

"I know, I'm contradicting myself, but we have to check this out," Nino replied, determined. "We have to see what takes our customers away."

"Maybe they are good?" Aiba offered.

"Maybe they are good," Nino repeated in disbelief. He snorted. "Is that everything you have to say?"

Aiba shrugged. "Ohno-san said they are artsy."

"That doesn't mean they taste good, does it?" Nino huffed on, as they strolled down the street, with Aiba holding onto the seam of his friend's shirt, to slow him down a little bit. "Moreover, exactly what I predicted is happening now, they are stealing our guests!"

It's only been one day since the opening of the new restaurant, and Aiba was sure that it was too early to conclude whether the new place would really take their customers away, or not.

"Let's assume you are right for now – but I want it for the record that I think you're a bit overreacting, - and people are going there because it's new and hip and whatnot. I bet if we just wait for one or two weeks everything will turn back to normal, as soon as the first vibes of curiosity ebbed away," Aiba started, considering this as a more realistic option to think about the initial run on the "Wagamama Kitchen".

Nino stopped, turning on his heel and threw him a frowning look. "Overreacting? I am overreacting?! I think that you are underreacting, don't you know how important this is? Seriously, Masaki, am I the successor of the izakaya or you? You should be a bit more worried about what will happen to it -"

"Slow down, Nino, slow down!" Aiba lifted his hands. He very much appreciated Nino's worries, and he understood them, but still, they were kind of over the top. He had to talk some reasons into his friend. "Even if the izakaya isn't so busy these days, we still have delivery and are busy enough. We won't have to close down our shop because of that, so stop worrying about it, OK?"

Nino sighed, looking miserable, but in the end, he at least seemed to try, nodding slowly. Aiba smiled at him, to cheer him up, and leaped forward to throw one arm around Nino's shoulders and pull him with him as he continued to walk.

Aiba knew exactly where Nino was coming from. The izakaya was the Aiba family's everything. It was their place to work and live, and their reason and right to exist. It was essential to them, of course, the same way it had become essential to Nino. And especially for Nino, who experienced having nothing for the greater part of his life, the sole imagination of losing such a place must be horrendous. However, in Aiba's opinion, Nino was a huge overthinker and life would probably be much easier for him if he just stopped worrying so freaking much, occasionally. Maybe, checking out the restaurant would show him that things wouldn't be so bad after all.

They reached the "Wagamama Kitchen" in no time, it was actually just a few minutes' walk from one end to the other end of the street, and they had to admit that the newly opened restaurant indeed looked interesting and inviting. A few white tables surrounded by some very gaudy red and purple coloured chairs were placed outside of the restaurant, lining the shop window and there was a bright banner hanging next to the entrance, reading "New Opening" and "Welcome". There was even a small amount of people lining up in front of the shop.

Pretty much at the same time when Aiba and Nino settled at the end of the line to wait for their turn to get inside, someone they both knew quite well exited the restaurant, carrying a plastic bag with what Aiba assumed to be take-out food.

"Ohno-san, hello!" he said, waving at the artist with a friendly smile, who looked slightly confused as he turned his head into the direction from which he heard his name coming from.

"Oh, guys," the man said, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"The question is what are you doing here?" Nino shot back with a judging look, his arms crossed in front of his chest while Aiba was still holding his shoulder, pressing it a bit harder now.

"Nino, I already said that Ohno-san is free to go eat wherever he wants," Aiba said, his smile still as broad as before.

"Well...," Ohno seemed a little embarrassed, his look dropping onto the bag in his hand, while he lifted the other to scratch the back of his neck. "The sushi here is really..."

"Artsy?" Nino helped with a skeptically raised eyebrow.

"Indeed! It looks like -"

"Watermelon, I know," the younger man rolled his eyes before earning a pinch in the arm by Aiba. He didn't complain.

"Aiba-kun's ramen is still better," Ohno replied, pouting slightly.

Aiba laughed, flashing a smile at the artist. "Then please make sure to come get your ramen tonight."

"Sure, I will, see you later then," Ohno replied, smiling back and waving before he turned to stroll back down to his atelier.

"You are lucky that Ohno-san already counts as a friend rather than a simple customer, speaking impolitely to our guests is not a good idea, Nino, no matter how emotional you get," Aiba said to his friend, his voice sounding soft, but the message was clear.

Nino didn't reply but just pursed his lips. It actually looked rather cute than offended though, and he knew that Nino understood the situation very well, so Aiba let it pass.

They had to wait for a few more minutes until they were finally next to go inside the restaurant. There was even a small area reserved for them to wait until one of the waiters would come to pick them up and lead them to a free table - as a sign announced politely.

The restaurant wasn't too big of a place, but it was certainly bigger than the Aiba family's izakaya. The tables were spread out more throughout the location, different from the neatly arranged tables in the izakaya. And compared to the more traditional and rustic, natural look that dominated their place, the restaurant here was decorated mostly in white. It gave off an open and modern flair, which was pimped up smartly by colourful modern wall art.

Aiba counted three waiters walking between the tables at a not too fast but also not too slow speed, creating a non-stressful atmosphere for their guests. The place was not too cramped, despite seemingly busy, most likely, the management here had to make sure not to let in too many people at once, but at the same time still be able to fulfil all orders in a not too long period of time, and keep everyone satisfied. This was actually not a bad tactic, Aiba thought.

The delicious smelling food that was being carried around by the waiters looked stunning. There were salads, sushi, dishes with meat, rice, noodles, and vegetables. However, as far as Aiba was able to see it, all those quite Japanese looking dishes were twisted with something that made them look different. As a food lover and chef himself, the young man had to say that this was very interesting, that was for sure.

Another very interesting thing was the half-opened kitchen at the back of the restaurant. Parts of the kitchen seemed to be built into the room, behind a bar made of glass, so that people could actually sit there and watch their food getting prepared in front of their own eyes. It was similar to what Aiba did in the izakaya, but bigger, more modern and much more impressive. Aiba could not see the actual person in charge of the cooking from his position, he even had let go of Nino in the meantime, and tried to make himself even a bit taller to catch a glimpse. However, a group of excitedly chatting women was blocking the view. Anyway, Aiba couldn't help but smile while imagining how appealing the idea was to witness someone creating such interesting looking food.

Aiba was so immersed in the scene, that at first, he didn't realize what was going on, when Nino suddenly seemed to lose balance right next to him. Confused, Aiba then turned to his friend, but he couldn't react as fast as the waiter, who just popped up right next to them, like out of nowhere, and caught Nino underneath his arms, pulling him back up immediately.

"Wow, Beautiful, please watch your step, I don't want you to get hurt," the man aimed at Nino, flashing him a charming smile that made him look even more attractive, before he let go of him.

"Oh."

Nino looked just as perplexed as Aiba, when he recognized the man in front of him, properly dressed in black pants, a white shirt rolled up to his elbows, a black vest and a crimson necktie. It was the same man who scared him like hell only a few days ago when Nino looked into the still unopened restaurant.

Realizing that the man was still holding onto him, Nino blushed deeply, backing off from the waiter, and he immediately grabbed onto Aiba, who instinctively let his arm slip around Nino's waist protectively.

"Nino?" Aiba asked, still slightly confused, but made sure to stabilize his friend, just in case.

"I'm OK, I'm OK," Nino murmured, but still he seemed a little wonky on his feet.

"Are you sure?" the waiter asked, his big round eyes widened with worry.

"Yes, I'm sure, thank you," Nino replied, embarrassed.

The man in front of him smiled, relieved, flashing his cute perfect white teeth between his perfectly shaped lips.

"Is our restaurant so breath-taking?" he then asked challengingly, throwing a wink at Nino.

"It's unique, indeed," Nino replied, his face deeply red and Aiba wasn't sure but he rather hoped that the waiter didn't hear the sarcasm dripping from his friend's voice, or started laughing out loud.

"I am your waiter for today," the man with the friendly smile finally said, as if nothing had happened. He was professional that much was for sure. After nodding at Aiba, he lifted his eyebrows as he searched for Nino's eye contact again. "A table for you and your...?"

His look went back to Aiba, curious, and Aiba suddenly understood.

"Oh... Oh, I'm not his date, no worries," he said, finally letting go of Nino again, who now seemed able to stand by himself, without needing Aiba's support. Instead, he placed his elbow nonchalantly on Nino's shoulder. "A table for me and my friend, please."

The waiter released a chuckle, slightly higher pitched than what Aiba expected, and cleared his throat before finding back his composure. Aiba grinned. That was kind of cute.

"Very well. Please follow me."

The waiter showed them a specific direction before turning, and Aiba and Nino followed him, as they were told. Aiba quickly leaned towards his friend, to check on him once more.

"Is really everything alright?" he frowned.

"Yeah, it's fine," Nino waved off. "I was just feeling a little dizzy."

"Did you drink enough water?" Aiba frowned at him strictly, knowing exactly that this was one of Nino's biggest flaws – not listening properly to his body and in that process, forgetting to stay hydrated during work or while study.

"I should probably drink some more," the younger man admitted.

"Here we go," the waiter announced, stopping in front of a small table, pulling back one of the chairs to offer Nino a seat, before indicating that he was going to do the same for Aiba, who just smiled gratefully and seated himself. The waiter nodded at him, before turning back to Nino.

"Would you like to have a glass of water before choosing your order?" he asked.

"Yes please," Aiba replied for his friend. "That would be really appreciated."

"Alright, I'll bring it right away," the waiter bowed slightly before he left, leaving behind a still very embarrassed looking Nino.

"You really should pay more attention on drinking enough," Aiba scolded him, not the first time. Then, he was unable to hide his amusement over the strange scene between his best friend and the waiter any longer, and snorted, pulling Nino's disapproving look on him.

"I know, I know," Nino rolled his eyes while crossing his arms on top of the table in front of him. "By the way, what was that, Masaki?! "I'm not his date" - he didn't even ask!" the young man lifted one of his hands to rest his chin and bury half of his still red face.

Aiba shrugged, amused. "He looked like he wanted to know."

"You're crazy...," Nino murmured cutely, burying his face even more in his hand. 

"You're blind. He was obviously trying to test the waters," Aiba tried to imitate the waiter's wink from before. He didn't quite succeed though, so he tried to smooth over the awkward gesture and simply continued his reasoning. "He called you Beautiful."

"You must have misheard..."

"Certainly not, my ears are perfectly fine," Aiba grinned.

"Maybe, that's how they treat customers here, or maybe, he's just a playboy and calls everybody like that," Nino hissed.

He shut up just in time when the waiter came back to their table and placed not only a small tray with wet towels in the middle of the table for them to use, but also two glasses filled with water in front of Nino and Aiba.

"Here we go," he directed at Nino with a smile.

Nino just nodded and reached for his glass, downing half of the water in one go to drown his obvious nervousness, while Aiba turned to the waiter, curiously.

"You're the owner of this place, aren't you?" he asked. "I saw you the other day. You remember him too, Nino don't you?"

Of course, Nino did, but instead of jumping into the conversation, he only nodded before averting his eyes.

The waiter chuckled softly before he replied.

"I am sorry I scared you back then," he said, aiming at Nino, confirming that he too remembered the mentioned encounter very well, then he focused on Aiba again. "And I am sorry for not introducing myself properly, my name is Sakurai Sho," the man continued, bowing in front of his guests. "I am indeed the owner of this restaurant, even if not the only one," he nodded behind him. "My business partner and co-owner of this place is working in the kitchen."

"Oh, that's really cool!" Aiba beamed. "He must be an artist, judging from the impressive creations here, at least."

Sakurai smiled back, pleased. "He'll be delighted to hear that, thank you..."

"Aiba. My name is Aiba Masaki and this is my friend Ninomiya Kazunari," Aiba introduced them both, earning a quick shocked look from his friend, but decided to ignore it.

"Nice to meet you two," Sakurai smiled. "So you are from this area?"

"Yes, we are working down the street at the izakaya," Aiba explained without hesitation.

"Oh, I passed it the other evening, it looks really nice," Sakurai said and to Aiba it did not seem to be a polite response only, but a genuine comment.

"Please pay us a visit next time you pass by," Aiba replied. "I'm sure, Nino will gladly serve you a glass of our finest beer," he grinned, looking at his friend.

Sakurai laughed heartily. "How can I say no to such a promising offer? Will you perhaps be wearing a cute uniform?" he asked, directing a slightly cheeky smile at Nino, who decided to ignore the waiter.

"He will!" Aiba chimed in, earning an unnerved look from his best friend.

Having to accept his temporary defeat, Sakurai chuckled cutely before focusing back on his task and finally handing his two guests the menu.

"Please take your time to choose, I'll be back at your service when you are ready to order."

"Thank you!" Aiba cheered, before Sakurai left the table. As soon as he was out of sight, he turned to his friend, who was already hiding behind the opened menu. "He's so flirting with you…"

"I don't care! First of all, I'm not interested in someone who's our rival," Aiba heard a hiss coming from behind the menu. "And second, you really don't need to help him..."

"Don't be so cold, Nino, I know you're not good at such stuff, but he's cute and handsome! Enjoy the attention," Aiba chuckled before he opened the menu himself.

Immediately, he was immersed into the slightly confusing but absolutely fascinating choice of dishes, so that it took him another couple of seconds to feel the pair of eyes staring a hole into his forehead. Slowly, Aiba lifted his gaze from the pages to meet Nino's annoyed look, and Aiba was already prepared for a discussion with his friend, when Nino's look suddenly seemed to get distracted by something behind Aiba. He frowned and as if in reply, Aiba lifted his eyebrows in question.

"Uhm... Masaki?" Nino finally said.

"What's wrong?"

Nino pointed behind him. "Look..."

"What's there?" Aiba wondered.

"The chef at the kitchen isle..."

"I guess that's the place for the chef in a restaurant to be," Aiba chuckled.

He indeed had been curious before when he passed the kitchen area and was unable to catch a glimpse of the chef, however, right now, the menu was much more interesting to him. He could still stand up and go watch the chef when he was actually cooking Aiba's food, because that would be much more exciting!

"No, you don't get it," Nino said, excited. "What I mean is, look at the chef, now!"

"Why?" Aiba asked, but turned around at the same time.

He fell silent when his eyes made out the kitchen space in the back of the restaurant, which was actually not that far away from them. Compared to before though, the bunch of women occupying the isle was gone now, and so Aiba's gaze immediately fell onto the person standing there behind the counter, preparing some food. Aiba gasped. It was a tall, incredibly handsome young man, dressed in a white chef uniform, and Aiba couldn't ignore the idea that the girls were probably watching him rather than his work. He was just too attractive for this kind of place. Aiba's body froze, but his heart was beating like crazy.

He knew that man.

"It’s Jun, isn't it?" Aiba heard Nino whispering behind him, even if he sounded more like he wanted to jump up and yell the chef's name while pointing at him.

At least, the fact that Nino recognized their friend too meant that Aiba wasn't turning crazy. Still, he was not able to look away from Jun. Out of all places, this had to be the last one Aiba expected to find him again. A restaurant. Behind the kitchen counter. Working. Cooking. There was a lot of thoughts rushing through Aiba's brain at this very moment, too many to catch all at once and to process the situation. He was in shock.

"Masaki?" distantly, there was Nino in the background. "Masaki!"

Aiba almost jumped in his chair, surprised by his friend's suddenly raised voice, and his head shot around, facing Nino.

"It's him?" the younger man wanted to confirm, his eyes quickly looking at the chef behind Aiba before locking eyes with his friend again. "The one you met the other day?"

Not really able to voice any wise words, Aiba simply nodded and Nino, who seemed to have slipped forward to the edge of his seat, sank back into his chair, releasing a deep sigh.
"He really changed," Nino murmured.

"You mean, he became more handsome?" Aiba chuckled, trying to hide the nervousness behind his voice, which was suddenly caused by his extremely fast heartbeat.

Partly, he indeed was feeling some ridiculous sense of pride about how well Jun had grown up over the past years, he could completely understand the feeling that was gracing Nino's face at that moment – pure nostalgia.

Aiba's heart stung, when his thoughts finally processed what all of this meant. Jun had returned. Which was awesome, and should make him incredibly happy, but apparently, Jun had no recollection of Aiba, and probably even forgot their joint dream of opening up a restaurant together. They had talked so much about their future plans when they were kids, but now, Jun was here, and working in a restaurant, without Aiba. Who he didn't even recognize. For a moment, Aiba felt treated extremely unfairly.

He couldn't help but turn around again, his eyes instinctively searching for Jun again, as he watched him moving from one end of the kitchen isle to the other, handling different types of food while giving orders to a young boy without looking at him, who seemed to be assisting him. His handsome face was serious, and he didn't seem to let anyone disturb his concentration, staying focused on his tasks, like a real professional. For a moment, Aiba imagined, how it would be, if he would be standing next to Jun, sharing his task. Would he look at him when giving orders? Would he smile at him? Would he be strict with him? Would he scold Aiba for staring at him (but then, who could be mad at him for staring at such beauty?). It would be Aiba's dream to stand next to Jun in the kitchen and share the working space, making their guests smile when they ate their food, spreading happiness.

Trying to focus back on Nino, Aiba turned around to his friend once more, clearing his throat.

"Things indeed changed...," he said, intending to leave it at this, but Nino didn't seem finished with the topic just yet.

"Still, he is..."

"Him," Aiba ended Nino's sentence softly.

Nino looked at Aiba for what felt like a long time, and Aiba could almost see the thoughts doing their work inside Nino's head, trying to figure out what to do, until the young man finally found his words.

"What's he doing here?" Nino finally asked the same question that had occupied Aiba's mind for the past few minutes.

"Cooking, obviously," Aiba replied, deciding to voice the obvious rather than actually starting a discussion about the real question behind Nino's words - "Why here?!"

"But why?! Why in this restaurant?" his friend asked, nevertheless. "Why isn't he working with us in the izakaya or why aren't you two guys working together in a completely different place?"

Aiba swallowed and his heart started beating heavier again, this time painfully. It felt like his heart would beat in his throat, making it feel narrow and making it harder for him to breathe. He tried to calm down.

Of course, he had no answer to Nino's question. He knew what Nino implied. The question, he actually wanted to ask was why did Jun betray your dream? And even if this was the exact same question that was torturing Aiba at the moment. It was a question, Aiba obviously did not have an answer for. Not as if he could stand up and walk over to Jun, facing him with this exact question. However, even if he might have considered this option for a split second, it was like Aiba's feet had turned into stone. Even if he wanted to, he physically would not have been able to get up and go.

"Shall I go talk to him?" Nino asked after a few more seconds of silence.

Suddenly, Aiba panicked, his imagination immediately running wild with the image of his friend stomping up to Jun and yelling at him to find out what the fuck he was doing here and why he had not considered Aiba in all of this. He could actually picture the scene before his eyes.

With a slightly shaking voice, Aiba asked. "What do you want to talk to him about?"

"I don't know...," Nino brushed his hand through his hair, seemingly lost, just as much as Aiba was. "Ask him what he has been up to, what he is up to now. Maybe he recognizes me?... Sorry, that was insensitive..."

Aiba smiled, or at least, tried to smile. "No no, it's a possibility, isn't it? Maybe, you should go check. Just to make sure." Actually, he felt a little relieved. At least, it did not sound as if Nino was planning to rip of Jun's head right away. He might be emotional at times, but when it called for it, he was a very sensitive person.

"You sure?"

"Sure. Go," Aiba nodded.

"You want to come along?"

Aiba chuckled, nervously. Besides his still heavy feeling feet, he honestly wasn't sure if he would be able to face Jun at the moment. He might start crying in front of him, overwhelmed by all the confusion and feelings and questions, and how uncomfortable that would make Jun feel? No, he shook his head slightly, without saying anything more. It would be better if he stayed here and tried to collect himself for a moment.

Nino seemed to understand and so, he stood up alone. He let his hand touch and press Aiba's shoulder for a second before passing him and heading towards the young chef of the restaurant, with slow, but determined steps. Aiba's heartbeat sped up once more, watching his friend. He had no idea what was going to happen now, what Nino was going to do exactly, or to say, or how Jun was going to react.

Jun must have his own good reasons to be here, Aiba tried convincing himself. He surely had his reasons and there was nothing wrong with it, childhood promise or not. They were adults now. They each went their own way; it was as simple as that. It was of no use to feel salty about not fulfilled childhood dreams, was it? Aiba closed his eyes for a moment, but as much as he tried to convince himself about these thoughts, there was still this bitter after taste. Why not together with me?

Aiba's throat felt awfully dry. Unable to watch what Nino was doing, he turned back to their table and took a big sip from his glass of water. He didn't dare looking back, even if he wanted to, and the noises of chatter and laughter from all the happy people surrounding him were too loud anyway for Aiba to be able to hear what was taking place behind him. They were too far away to be overheard. So, Aiba decided to try taking off his thoughts from the situation and study the menu all over again. He still had not chosen what to eat after all...

Quickly though, Aiba noticed that his view was kind of blurred, and he couldn't focus, he was too nervous. Everything in his mind was screaming Jun right now, and his own crazy beating heart was the only thing Aiba could feel at that moment. The noises around him blurred to a constant buzz and his body almost felt like paralyzed.

He was only pulled out of his trance-like state, when someone – Nino, of course – snatched the menu out of his hand, just to turn it around and slide it back in his hands.

"You were holding it upside down, Masaki," Nino said softly, before taking his seat again across to his friend.

"Oh," Aiba chuckled. "Thanks."

Nino tilted his head, sending a worried look to his friend. "Are you OK?"

"Sure," Aiba said after clearing his still awfully dry throat. He tried to sound as normal and composed as possible, even if he knew that Nino would be able to look right through him. "So... what did you two talk about?"

"Actually, I played a little dumb," Nino started his report. He sighed and paused for a second, before he continued. "I asked if he comes from the area because he looks familiar and I grew up here and he said yes, but when I asked him if he remembers me, he said no. Not my name, not my face... So at least it's not just you he apparently forgot..."

Aiba wasn't sure if this was supposed to cheer him up or make him even sadder than what he felt when he met Jun just a few days before. He just couldn't understand. There had not been a single day passed without him thinking of Jun. Sure, maybe he was investing more feelings than Jun was. Maybe, while he was missing Jun like crazy for these past years, Jun was so excited about his new life far away from their hometown, meeting new people, experiencing new things... and it wasn’t before long that he started to stop thinking about Aiba and his friends from his childhood. But how was it even possible that he did not even remember his name? That he neither recognized him nor Nino, that both of them were not enough to make Jun remember their joint past and smile at them like he used to as a kid? Just... how?!

Aiba was so downed in his thoughts, his heart wrapped in sadness that he even had drifted off from listening to his friend, before he was finally able to focus back on Nino's words.

"...Anyway, I don't know, but something felt really off... He wasn't very communicative, until I started talking about the meal he was preparing. Thenhe suddenly started to explain the way he cooked the meat to me, and what inspired him to decorate it the way it looks interesting and special..."

"I see," Aiba said, feeling the necessity to at least say something to signal Nino that he was still listening – or at least tried to.

Maybe, he should try seeing this from a positive point of view, Aiba wondered. Nino's description of Jun being so passionate about his work and willing to explain how he prepared his food, was exactly what Aiba expected Jun to do if they were to share a restaurant, like his dreams.

"Are you trying to smile?" Nino's skeptical voice cut into Aiba's thoughts.

"Huh? Ah," actually, the young man didn't even know, but as a believer in positive words becoming positive thoughts, he continued trying his best to convince Nino – and himself – about good parts of this whole situation. "I don't know. I just thought, maybe we should be happy about that. Jun fulfilled his dream. He became a chef, no, more than that, he became a chef and co-owner of this restaurant, and seriously, considering his age... isn't that fantastic?"

"Well, I thought, his dream was to become a chef and working together with you," Nino said, obviously refusing to hop onto Aiba's positive train. Surely, he saw through him completely. He was probably not willing to allow Aiba to run away from his actual feelings...

"I know and yeah, it would be even better if that had happened," Aiba admitted. "But as you can see, it didn't. Maybe it's not his dream anymore."

"You mean, he forgot about your promise and you just accept that?! Are you telling me, you're OK with that?" Nino arched a worried eyebrow.

Aiba turned around once more, looking at Jun, who was still busy cooking. He looked very focused. He looked incredible. As if – despite having the looks of a model – he belonged behind the counter and had never done anything else in his whole life but cook. It was such a confusing feeling, Aiba could feel his eyebrows furrowing. It hurt, seeing Jun like that, fulfilling his dream without Aiba by his side, but on the other hand, it also hurt Aiba that he couldn't feel completely happy for his friend. It was difficult... as if he was sitting between two chairs. He wanted to be proud and happy for Jun, and a part of him was all that, however, there was also a part of him, deep inside, that felt betrayed.

After a few seconds, Aiba took another deep breath, and finally replied. "What can I do? I have to be OK with that."

"Everything alright, gentlemen?" the two men's conversation was suddenly disturbed by their returning waiter, restaurant co-owner Sakurai Sho, and his charming smile. "Can I take your order already?"

In fact, right now, Nino looked like his appetite was completely gone (probably not due to the reappearance of the waiter, but due to the whole Jun related story), and if Aiba was completely honest, he felt the same at this very moment. However, they had come here with the goal of spying on their rivals, and how impolite would it be to get up and leave right now? Trying to ignore his missing appetite – and trying to convince his brain that his stomach at least wanted to try Jun's food – Aiba turned to Sakurai and asked him for his recommendations.

Where Nino was only able to decide on a dish after Sakurai convinced him on how delicious and juicy the German inspired, fried hamburger variation with rice balls was, Aiba seemed to recover from his initial shock a bit faster, and after flipping through the menu once more, he actually got stuck on something that had drawn his interest the first time he read it. So in the end, Aiba ordered the "fried ebi-pizza tower", which sounded simply incredible and actually made him wonder how Jun would be able to build a tower from pizza. The waiter noted something on his small note pad, and flashed the two men another sweet smile.

"Thank you, I'll be right back," Sakurai bowed before he left again, not without sending another smile into Nino's direction – which Aiba of course noticed right away.

Nino looked a little lost and irritated, but Aiba didn't miss that he continued looking at the waiter, even if he was not sure how to interpret his friend's behaviour, yet. Picking up on this thought, Aiba decided that it was the perfect chance to change the topic from Jun to something much more amusing. He could continue worrying about Jun later, as surely the topic had not left the table completely, but it would definitely be a waste not to use the opportunity to tease Nino when chances were presenting themselves so shamelessly. So, as soon as Sakurai was out of sight, Aiba leaned a bit forward on the table, grinning at his friend, as if nothing happened.

"He did it again," he said in a low voice.

Nino frowned at him. "What?"

"He looked at you like... that," Aiba wiggled his eyebrows, grinning broadly.

"The man is not flirting with me, Masaki. That's just stupid," the younger man snorted, shaking his head.

"Nino has an admirer," Aiba sing sang, obviously entertained by the situation.

"Stop that, please, you're being too loud!" his friend hissed, turning red.

"Oh, you're blushing again," Aiba cooed, placing his chin in his hands, his elbows on the table.

Yes, it felt much better now, as he tried to push away his sorrows, in order to make the best out of the moment. Furthermore, if it helped to pull Nino out of his own negative thoughts, Aiba wouldn't regret it. Even if his friend would have to forgive him for teasing him a little.

"Because being with you is embarrassing," Nino mumbled, pouting.

"You're cute when you're embarrassed," Aiba stated. "I'm sure, Sakurai-san likes that too."

Nino just rolled his eyes and tried his best to change the topic to pass the time until their food would arrive. After his body felt quite a bit lighter, now after the situation had brightened up a bit, Aiba considered standing up and going to watch Jun prepare their food. However, considering his inner turmoil, in the end he decided to save this for another time. He might be a bit too emotional right now to be able to deal with something like that, and he really wasn't sure how he should face Jun, who probably still considered him simply as the strange guy from the neighbourhood who jumped at people who helped him pick up stuff from the street... Maybe, Aiba should invest a bit more thoughts and planning into how to confront his old friend from now on before jumping into it and risking making another strange impression on the young man.

Unexpectedly, the food didn't take long at all to arrive, and so, Aiba's worries were redundant anyway. Seeing the impressive creations on their plates in front of them, for just a small moment, Aiba wished that he actually had watched Jun arranging these art pieces, but as he already decided, there would always be a next time to do that.

- - + - -

When the two friends had returned to the izakaya, taking over preparations for the afternoon from Aiba's mother, Aiba was in a quite good mood. He had not expected to not only get a stunning meal, but also to find Jun so easily, and finding out that he was actually co-owning that new restaurant. This was the biggest surprise Aiba could have imagined and while he was still trying to figure out how exactly he should think about it, he couldn't help but be happy for Jun and his accomplishments. This was truly amazing!

Aiba didn't have the chance to talk to him before he and Nino left, after all, he didn't want to disturb the chef’s work, but now, he knew where to find the young man and it would be easy to create a chance to meet him again. 

Furthermore, after their visit to the "Wagamama Kitchen" Nino had – for now - stopped nagging at Aiba, worrying over the future of their izakaya. Maybe, that could be credited to Sakurai, who – as Aiba was still convinced – had been flirting so obviously with his friend for the whole time. It confused Nino so much that he must have forgotten everything else, at least for now.

It had been a while since someone had tried to flirt with Nino so openly, and as Aiba said, he knew Nino wasn't good with such things, and probably was not really interested in starting to date someone, but Aiba found the situation itself and his friend's reactions immensely cute and amusing. In the end, Sakurai even slipped a napkin with his phone number onto their table in front of a red-faced Nino, which showed Aiba that he must be serious indeed, and not only fooling around with new guests (he had paid attention to Sakurai and noticed that he did not treat any other guest like how he had treated Nino). Further, Aiba knew exactly, that for a second, despite whining about how not interested he was in anyone'sphone number, Nino had at least considered taking the napkin with him, even if in the end, he did not.

Somehow, Aiba really hoped that Nino would finally overcome his trust issues, and for once let new people into his life. He still had trouble making new friends, and besides Aiba and his family, Toma and Yuriko - maybe also Ohno, if someone squinted - there were not many people that Nino would consider as friends. He didn't even seem to have much contact with colleagues from film school besides when there were joint projects that they had to work on. At least, he never really talked about anyone in particular, and so Aiba assumed that Nino was a loner there, too.

His friend's sad history might be an understandable reason for him not to trust people too easily, and sadly, the fact that Jun had suddenly cut all contacts with him and Nino some years ago had not exactly been helpful. But Aiba wondered, if there was someone in this world besides him, who would be able to open Nino's eyes and heart even more towards the most beautiful emotion in the world – love. Not only the love Aiba and his family were able to provide Nino, but something more. Aiba would be so happy for his little brother, if he could finally find that special someone, and start making all those happy experiences. Sakurai seemed like a nice (and very handsome) man. Maybe, he would be the right one for Nino? At least, Aiba wanted to root for him, and he really hoped that Sakurai didn't give up on Nino already, after his aversive behaviour.

Aiba's thoughts started trailing away even further, the longer he was occupied with slicing onions, carrots, and potatoes for a huge pot of curry, and so, naturally, his thoughts went back to Jun once more.

Jun had been Aiba's first love, there was no doubt about it. However, compared to Nino, Aiba indeed went through a phase during adolescence, where he was a bit more open to experiments. He had always been curious, so his first kiss with Jun had not stayed Aiba's last kiss. He had dated and kissed boys, and girls, sometimes, there was even more, however, nothing really felt right to him. There had always been this tiny voice in his mind that told him that something was missing. Jun.

That was the reason, why no relationship that Aiba tried in the past had worked out. That was the reason, why Aiba was still single. It wasn't like he had been waiting for Jun to come back... or was it?

Suddenly, Aiba wondered if he was Jun's first kiss too. Back then, they had not really voiced their feelings for each other and they also had never really talked about things like kissing and such. Aiba had no idea if Jun had ever been in love, or if Jun was even interested in Aiba, or if that good-bye kiss was just accepted by him due to the situation. Did he know back then already that he would vanish for so long? Did he stop contacting Aiba because of that? Or did he really just forget everything?

Maybe if they talked with each other once more, and Aiba could tell Jun some stories from their childhood, Jun would remember him, Aiba thought excitedly. He was already setting up a plan internally on when it would be best to go meet Jun for this purpose.

In Aiba's head, everything would work out so perfectly. They would talk, and Jun would remember everything, and if Aiba was lucky, Jun would still be single and maybe even interested. Then, Aiba would ask him out for a date – because honestly, he would be stupid to miss the chance to at least ask. Maybe, he should bring Nino along and set him and Sakurai up so that they could go on a double date. Bowling would be a good idea, since it would be a nice activity for a small group and if they teamed up appropriately, they would be able to reconnect or, in Nino and Sakurai's case, create new connections. Or what about karaoke?

"Watch what you're doing, Masaki, you cut far too many potatoes!" the voice of his mother suddenly pulled him out of his thoughts.

Indeed, there was now a small mountain of peeled and cut potatoes piling up in front of him. It was such a quite funny image that it caused Aiba to chuckle, before apologizing and promising to use some of them to make croquettes.

Aiba tried his best to focus on his tasks from then on, but the grin stayed on his face, his daydreams still intact.

Indeed, the new restaurant had brought changes. However, Aiba didn't think of it as a bad thing. Changes could be scary, but if people accept them and try making the best out of them, there would always be something new to discover. Or in Aiba's case – something old. This change could be the chance to revive an old friendship, and Aiba definitely did not want to miss this chance.

- - + - -

Jun was busy cleaning the kitchen all by himself, as he had already sent his assistant home, who seemed quite exhausted from the busy day, after he helped to wash the dishes. The chef had turned up the volume on the radio, the music making the mundane task of sorting kitchen utensils and wiping surfaces much easier. When he turned his head, he spotted his friend Sho wiping the floor while singing along; he grinned, feeling amused.

Despite the late hour, Sho seemed to have quite a bunch of energy left, which was really impressive, considering how much running around he had been doing, serving guests and taking care of most organizational things in the restaurant. It was a very successful day again, Jun assumed, even if he had no idea how much money they actually made. The most important thing for him was that people enjoyed their time in their restaurant and that they liked his cooking and regarding those aspects, he didn't need to worry. There were a lot of people who watched him cook and asked him questions about it, which Jun gradually really started to enjoy.

Initially, Jun was averse to the idea of an "open kitchen", when Sho introduced the concept to him during the stage of planning their restaurant. He had argued that he needed to be by himself in order to focus, that he didn't need strangers staring at him or talking to him, but now he didn't regret letting himself be persuaded to give it a try. Sho was right, Jun had no problem with cooking in front of other people, and surprisingly he even became quite babbly about his food creations, despite his usually calm personality. It had obviously turned some people's visit here into something a little more special. That alone was worth it, Jun thought.

Also, his food had been praised multiple times, not only when people were watching him cook, but also after when they finished their meals, and of course, this filled the young chef with pride and joy. All those past few years of travelling with Sho and studying different cuisines, Japanese, Chinese, as well as Western, finally started to pay off.

It's been a long way since their initial meeting, becoming business partners, and finally putting their plans into action. It was during the summer camp between Jun's second and third year of high school, when the two very different men met for the first time. Sho, who was almost two years older than Jun, and had been volunteering as a supporting tutor in the activities as part of his studies at university. Somehow, when he and Jun discovered their mutual love for food, the two very quickly became friends. When Jun told Sho that ever since his childhood he had the urge of wanting to become a chef, Sho was hooked by the young man's dream and decided to team up with him, as soon as Jun had graduated from high school.

After graduation, Jun, instead of going to college, decided to travel the world together with his friend Sho, who switched his studies to distance studies for the corresponding time, and accompanied the aspiring chef, so that they both would be able to collect knowledge about different countries regarding food, cooking, and hospitality.

As soon as Sho achieved his degree, he announced to his parents that he would pursue a career in this field, but he was much more interested in opening and handling his own restaurant. He and Jun still had some things to learn, and they did, taking courses about business management and accounting in Sho's case, and doing his best to refine his cooking skills in Jun's case. After a couple of years, they finally reached the last few steps, choosing the theme and location for their restaurant, planning the interior and moving their lives there, to give their passion a home.

If people were worried seeing those two ambitious young men deciding to try to open their own restaurant, and wondered if things would continue to go well, they would be proven wrong. Not that it mattered for Jun, but he was proud to be able to say that his and Sho's hard work finally seemed to pay off and he could imagine nothing greater than being able to do what he loved the most, and make a living out of it.

Checking the time, Jun finished up the rest in the kitchen as fast as he could, since he wanted to get home quickly to watch his favourit late-night cooking show featuring one of his favourite comedians who invited prestigious cooks to his studio kitchen in order to learn proper cooking.

Jun called out to Sho, who was about to performance a rap, using his mop as a standing microphone, since his friend also enjoyed the TV-show and surely didn't want to miss it either. As expected, Sho dropped his "microphone" and proceeded to finish cleaning the floor in record time (while rapping), and then went to the back to change out of his waiter's uniform into his casual clothes. Jun followed his example soon, and Sho was already waiting for him at the restaurant door. The young chef just turned off the radio, switched off the lights in the kitchen and searched for his keys in his pockets, so that they could lock up and leave.

Outside, the shopping district seemed almost empty already, the surrounding shops had already been closed for a few hours. The street lanterns were still lighting their way, and the atmosphere had almost something romantic in it, if not for a group of drunken men, most likely celebrating some kind of stag party, wearing their proper suits still buttoned up but their ties wrapped around their heads, singing loudly to encourage the soon-to-be-groom. There were also noises coming from a bar around the corner, and probably, the izakaya down the street would still be opened too, but besides that, the street was way quieter than during the day.

Sho and Jun had decided not to leave the restaurant opened until a too late hour at night, simply because they didn't want drunkards like the ones they just witnessed occupying their place until the early morning hours. That's what bars are for, Sho used to say, and Jun had to agree. However, after the immense rush of people, they were opened a bit longer these days. With that, and considering the cleaning up process after sending the last few guests home with a thank you and good night wishes, it became late enough.

The still chilly spring air at night caused Jun to shiver for a moment, before he adjusted his jacket and started walking, Sho in tow.

Thankfully, their way home wouldn't take them too long, since Sho had wisely chosen to rent an apartment within about a ten minutes of walking distance. It was a small apartment located on the third floor of a small apartment complex, but it was big enough for two people, and so the two friends decided to share a place and divided the costs in half. Especially as long as they didn't know if their restaurant would be a success in the long run, it wouldn’t be stupid to save money where they could, and Jun rather lived on a lower budget than having to downgrade the quality of the ingredients he used for his cooking.

"So?" Sho suddenly asked, catching up with his friend.

"So… what?" Jun asked, arching an eyebrow at him.

Sho smiled widely, but there was something expecting in his following question. "What do you think about our second day?"

"It was exhausting, but fun," Jun started answering, his grey cells already trying to figure what exactly Sho was up to. "I think we had quite a number of guests. What do the numbers say? Are you satisfied?"

"Jun, I am not talking about numbers here," Sho replied. "I mean, yes, there were a lot of guests visiting us these past two days, much more than I expected to come, and yes, I think we earned a considerable amount of money," Sho continued, because, although there were a lot more things on his mind than just their earnings, he of course also had the numbers in his head, "But what I want to know is, how was it from the emotional side?"

Sho's look felt so piercing that Jun had to avert his eyes. There it was, the question he feared the most since they opened their restaurant on Friday. Jun was already grateful that his friend had not bothered him with the topic yesterday, however, apparently, he had reached his limit of keeping it to himself.

"Did you meet any people you know from your past?" Sho asked, his voice lowered a bit, and trying to make it sound as tender-hearted as such a question could possibly sound.

"I am not sure if you understand how difficult this is," Jun started, wondering how he could possibly explain his situation in the best way, without tearing down his friend's hopes too much, who surely only meant well for him. "We moved here only about a week ago and I haven't been here in ages. Even if there were people I knew from the past, they changed. I changed. Maybe I don’t even recognize them if I remembered them. Maybe, they don't recognize me either. However, so far, it's just an immense amount of new faces for me… and more importantly, I am trying to focus on the cooking when I'm in the restaurant. Naturally."

"Sure… I just thought, maybe…," as expected, Sho was not able to hide his disappointment, even if he tried.

Jun sighed. Maybe, there was one little thing, he could tell, which Sho might consider as a small victory. "However, there was indeed one person I recognized, today..."

Sho's face slipped. "What?"

"Not from my past…," immediately, Jun tried to row backwards. Probably, he had chosen the wrong words to start this. "Rather from meeting him a few days ago when I was on my way home from shopping... and he seemed to know me..."

"Why didn't you tell me?!" his friend's voice almost doubled in pitch from excitement.

"I don't know, I guess I was just too confused," Jun tried to defend himself. "He seemed to recognize me but to be honest with you, I have no recollection of him or his name… I have no idea…"

But Sho had already lost it, latching himself into that one clue Jun had just provided him with. "Who is that person?"

It was no use to hide more things from his friend, and so, Jun continued talking. "Remember the one who accompanied that cute black-haired guy you couldn't resist flirting with? Don't think I didn't notice that," Jun arched an eyebrow, just to earn a smug grin from his friend. 

"You are probably talking about Aiba-kun and Ninomiya-kun. The taller man with lighter hair said his name is Aiba Masaki, if I remember correctly, and that he and his friend are working in the izakaya down the street," Sho contributed and Jun wasn't even surprised that his friend already had their names.

The chef nodded. "That's his name, and when I ran into him in front of the conbini, he mentioned an izakaya too. He said we've been friends... And then when they came to the restaurant that Ninomiya guy came up to me while I was cooking and asked me if I remember him."

"But you don't remember anything?" Sho asked carefully, and Jun shook his head. Then, there was another question to ask. "You don't believe them?"

Jun thought about it for a few seconds, and then shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know…"

"You know, not everyone has bad intentions when trying to connect with you, right?" Sho trying to remind his friend, knowing exactly why his friend was reluctant to take what felt for him like a stranger's words for granted.

Jun lifted his hand to rub his neck. "I know…"

"I understand that you are being careful," Sho continued. "But if you ask me, you should try to be a bit more open minded. I don't want to pressure you, just be open and see what happens, OK?"

"Sho, maybe this is just useless," the younger man added, seemingly stressed out. Even if Sho tried to hold pressure to a minimum, in the end, it was still stressful for Jun. "I appreciate that you want to help me with all this, but can't we just focus on our restaurant and leave it at that?"

Sho furrowed his eyebrows in a worried expression and slightly pursed his lips. "But it would be a pity if you didn't even try –"

"I agreed to move back to my old neighbourhood. If it will help with my amnesia, fine. If not, not, OK?" Jun looked straight into his friend's eyes. He hoped he didn't sound as desperate as he felt right at that moment. "I want to focus on the restaurant for now."

Apparently, Jun had been living in this area once during his childhood for more than a decade. However, due to certain circumstances, he did not have any recollection of this period of his life. The young man had lost big parts of the memories regarding his childhood, including places, and the people. And ever since Jun told his close friend Sho about this, his friend became obsessed with the idea of bringing Jun back to the place he forgot. According to Sho, whose father worked as a psychologist, whom Jun had even consulted a couple of times – more to do his friend a favour than for himself – one's childhood was one of the most important things, one of the biggest pillars to build one's personality, as well as one's future on.

Honestly, Jun had never really agreed with his friend on that. It wasn't like he felt any sadness over the fact that he couldn't remember the earlier years of his life. Sure, it would be nice to not have a gap in one's memory, however, in Jun's current situation, he did not miss anything from his past. What could he even miss, if he couldn't remember it? Probably, it was better like this. Maybe, there even were memories that were better forgotten. Still, since Sho had insisted on it, in the end, Jun agreed to move back to his old town and open their restaurant there. It wouldn't hurt, and sooner or later if Sho finally learned to shut up about that topic, once he realized and accepted, that Jun's memory wouldn't come back, it would be fine. It wasn't like Jun did not appreciate his friend's wish to help him, but he was convinced that Sho cared more about this than he himself. Maybe, only someone who suffered from his condition would be able to understand his way of thinking.

"I understand, Jun, but those guys could be the clue to your past," Sho finally added. "Maybe, if you talked to them, it might trigger something. Or if you don't want to, maybe I could go and ask them for details?" he offered.

"You want us to go to that izakaya and talk to them?" Jun asked.

Sho nodded without even a second of hesitation.

"Don't tell me you're really crushing on that Ninomiya guy?" Jun grinned at his friend, trying to change the topic.

"That has nothing to do with this," Sho replied, furrowing his eyebrows.

However, Jun knew exactly, if he kept on just a little longer, his friend would take the bait. "I thought you need an excuse to talk to him again. For me, you looked serious."

"Maybe?" Sho said, pursing his lips, before he broke down, almost immediately. "OK, yeah, actually, I was seriously trying to flirt with him."

"Didn't look like you were successful," Jun countered, reaching his hand to teasingly poke Sho's side, who jumped a little at the tickling touch.

"Hm... not really…," the man then said, recalling the meeting with his new chosen flame. "He seemed nervous but I'm not sure if it was the good kind of nervous, you know what I mean? And, he totally left behind the napkin with my phone number," Sho pouted.

"What a pity... Maybe, he's trying to play hard to get?" Jun suggested before he decided to tease his friend just a little more. "Or, he's just not interested in men... or you."

"Hm... I'm not sure, I get those vibes," Sho said after considering the option for a painful second.

"The same vibes you got from Keiko before she told you she's going to marry Daigo?" the chef couldn't hold back, even if he didn't want to dig up this topic. Sometimes, his mouth was faster than his brain.

Sho gave him that look. "That was mean, Jun."

"I'm sorry," Jun replied, folding his hands in an apologetic gesture.

"Oh well," Sho shrugged, returning to his cheerful mood in an instant. "Keiko and I just weren’t meant to be. She's happy now, and I'm over it. But this young man..." He sighed, and the love-struck expression on his face was impossible to ignore.

"Take this as an observation, but you have a weird habit of falling in love with people at first sight, Sho," Jun said, not sure if he would be helpful in any way.

"It's the second time I saw him," Sho immediately corrected. "In fact, I already saw him and Aiba a few days ago when they were looking into the restaurant early in the morning."

Jun arched an eyebrow. "Did you already find him cute back then?"

"Well…"

"Counts as first sight, then," the young chef chuckled. "Anyway, maybe you should try getting to know them better first, before hitting on people."

"But… I just know he must be the right one," Sho replied, fisting his hand in front of his chest to show his conviction. Sometimes, Jun really admired him for this character trait. "Maybe it's fate!"

"Like the one time you thought it was fate when you told me about... what's her face, Maki, who then broke up with you after three weeks and started dating your professor?" Jun shot back.

"Apparently, I wasn't lucky with women in the past, I get it," Sho replied with a hinted roll of his eyes.

"Neither with men, think about that Okada guy," his friend kept on. "I forgot his problem, though… your overwhelming devotion?"

"Thanks for the reminder."

"I am sorry, Sho," Jun smiled, apologetically. "Really, I wish you good luck with your love life and I'm sure you make a great boyfriend. I just want you to be a bit more careful with who you fall in love with. I don't want you to get hurt."

"I know, thanks Jun," Sho answered. "But don't worry, you know, I am not one who gives up that easily!"

"That's good…," Jun flashed Sho another smile, but he could feel it fading within a second, worry spreading in his mind as he thought about Ninomiya and Sho's failed flirting attempt.

Of course, Sho picked up on the swing of mood. "Is everything OK?"

"Don't get me wrong," Jun continued and he felt like his whole façade was cracking and starting to crumble. It wasn't like he cared about his past, it wasn't like he cared if he had known that Aiba and Ninomiya guy, but seeing how involved his friend was in the situation regarding those two already, he couldn't help but feel slightly guilty. "I'm rooting for you, really… It's just… it feels a bit strange... I'm supposed to know that guy, but I don't remember him at all. He could be an idiot, or an asshole and I wouldn't even be able to warn you."

"Hm," Sho seemed to think about his friend's comment for a bit. "He may be a bit grumpy, but I doubt he's an asshole... And as you said, since you were here, a lot has changed. Even if you remember Ninomiya, it doesn't mean that he's still the same guy from before. I appreciate your consideration, Jun, but don't worry about me. Worry about yourself. You'll see, the longer you stay here, higher are the chances you will remember your past."

Damned, Jun thought, now, what looked like a nice successful walk around the whole topic, was over as Sho – as so often – had somehow managed to close the circle again. Somehow, that man was a master of conversation, and Jun still had a hard time to get how he did that.

"I don't even know if I really want that," he replied in all honesty, knowing that it was not possible to run away from the topic any longer. "I mean, what could the advantage of that be?"

"Maybe you'd be less cynical and a bit happier?" Sho smirked at his friend.

"Was that hidden criticism?"

"You know, I like your cynical side. But I like your happy side more," the older man smiled, sincerely.

"I don't miss my past," Jun said, repeating those words for the umpteenth time.

"But maybe your past misses you?"

"If you are referring to that Aiba and Ninomiya guy again, seriously, I have no idea who they are and how we connect," he sighed. "Correction, connected. And that's totally fine for me. If you want to hit on Ninomiya, go ahead, but please, keep me out of this."

"We really should go and try finding out more," Sho tried one last time, making puppy eyes at his friend.

"You really just want to get closer to your new flame, don't you?" Jun shot back, trying his best to ignore Sho's pleading look.

"Come on Jun, it wouldn't hurt. Let's go visit the izakaya together!" Sho suggested, excitedly. "They must still be open at this hour, I think so if we go back now... at least there should be time left for one drink."

"Not tonight," Jun replied and then pointed his hand at the house they were approaching. "Look, we're home!"

"Then tomorrow."

"Sho…"

"OK, no pressure," Sho gave in, finally pulling out the keys to their apartment complex to unlock the door and let them inside with a smirk on his face. "But I'll take it as a soon."

- - + - -

It was early in the morning when Jun set foot on the grounds of the shopping district which held the morning market. The market was offering the most freshly delivered vegetables in town, the most freshly caught fish, right from the ocean, and whatever a chef's heart could wish for when it came to shopping for ingredients for the long upcoming day in the restaurant.

Jun stopped after just a few steps, though, in order to take in the view over countless colourful booths and shops and the hustle and bustle between them. It was admittedly a breath-taking scenery, but he would very much appreciate it, if all those voices from all those people greeting each other and wishing good mornings were just a little quieter, and the strong smell of the fresh fish just a bit less intense. The young man had no problem with raw meat or fish – how could he, considering his job – but so early in the morning he was just too sensitive to everything, and he rather felt sick to the stomach than ready to dive into the business, which now would become part of his daily ritual. 

Why was it again that he volunteered to go to the morning market today? Ah, right, because what happened with Sho and the groceries.

Since Sho was the complete opposite of Jun in the morning, read capable of making decisions and interacting with people, the two men had decided that Sho would be the one in charge for shopping in the morning in order to ensure that they would have the best possible ingredients for their restaurant. Jun trusted him completely with this, as his friend knew exactly that Jun wanted only high-quality ingredients for his cooking. Sho had just went way over board with the amount of things he bought, simply excusing that with a "Sorry, I was hungry".

There, Jun used to think his long-time friend was reliable and trustworthy when it came to money, that he was even a bit too stingy sometimes, if they were as he called "on a budget", and that he would never buy too much stuff if it was not actually needed. However, it seemed like Jun had extremely underestimated Sho's appetite and even after giving Sho the chance to learn from his mistakes for several days, it was hopeless.

Thus, now, Jun decided to try and go by himself in order to buy the right things, and more importantly, the right amount of things he would actually need for cooking, so that nothing would go to waste.

The young man sighed deeply.

If he wasn't just so freaking tired. And in such a freaking bad mood because of this... He should have at least brought his music with him to try waking him up and blend out all those noises, but – of course – as sleepy as he was, he just left his MP3 player at home. Well done.

Jun closed his eyes for a few seconds and tried to get himself used to the acoustic level around him, as well as to the mix of different strong smells. Those were all just fresh, delicious ingredients, the best food the town had to offer, and there was nothing to feel sick about, he tried to remind himself. He took a deep breath, and was already starting to adjust a little bit better to the situation, when suddenly -

"Jun!" a loud cheerful voice cut in and startled him.

Jun's eyes snapped open when he realized who had called out at him just now.

"Good morning!"

"Gosh," Jun exhaled loudly, when he saw Aiba Masaki jogging towards him, smiling and waving like an excited child, dressed in casual clothes and a light jacket, and looking far more awake than Jun would ever be at such an early hour. It was Aiba Masaki, the man he was supposed to know, but didn't. It felt just weird being greeted by him so joyfully and honestly, it was the last thing Jun wanted to deal with so early in the morning. "You surprised me..."

"I'm sorry," Aiba said, his voice lowered when he stopped right next to Jun, his smile still on, almost as blinding as the sun. "That wasn't my intention... Nice to meet you here, Jun."

Jun didn't really know how to reply to this. Meeting this man really confused him and he actually hoped not to meet him again too soon, despite Sho telling him that it would be important to talk to him, in order to find out more about his past. Jun still needed more time. To process all of this, to prepare mentally, and to just not get overwhelmed and stressed out.

There was a small awkward silence between him and that guy, Jun was trying hard to find a way to deal with the current situation, and Aiba was just standing there and flashing him a criminally happy smile disregarding the early hour, spreading an aura of being just an old friend you randomly ran into. It was just so weird...

"Please, could you not call me so familiarly? I already told you that I do not know you," Jun finally said in an unnerved tone, breaking the silence. "It feels strange."

Jun meant what he said. However, seeing Aiba's radiating smile fading within a second after hearing Jun speak to him like that, made him think that he probably should have tried to sound less annoyed as he did. He already felt sorry for the man in front of him. Jun cursed at himself and his grumpy morning personality.

"You... reallydon't remember me, right?" Aiba then asked in a low voice, looking straight into Jun's eyes. "Not our days at school, or when we played together with Nino and everything?"

There was disappointment in Aiba's eyes, as well as a hint of sadness, and even if Jun was convinced that just a minute before he rather preferred not having to do anything with that person, for a first time in a long while, Jun felt a sting of guilt in his heart for not remembering.

"I'm sorry," he murmured while ruffling his hair, trying to save what could be saved in this awkward situation. "I really don't. But... I didn't intend to sound so... mean just now."

It was obvious that Aiba had to try hard to find back his smile, and he did, even if it turned out a little crooked, when he finally responded.

"No, I am the one who is sorry," Aiba chuckled. "You must think I'm crazy, running up to you just like that... uhm... So what should I call you then," he seemed to seriously wonder. "Matsumoto... uhm... -san?"

Jun frowned, wondering. Yes, he had told Aiba not to call him by his given name, as it really fest awkward to be called that by a stranger – well, at least someone who was a stranger to him, even if that stranger had insisted on knowing Jun for years already. For Jun, it was different. In his case, there were only two encounters with this man in his whole life, both of which happened during the last few days. One time, when that weird man had clumsily dropped something in front of a convenience store, and for the second time, when Aiba and his friend Ninomiya visited Jun and Sho's restaurant on the second day after their opening. Since then, they still didn't have the chance to talk again to each other, for which Jun was actually grateful for. This whole thing still felt too strange... he wasn't ready. However, seeing the man struggling so much by calling him by his last name and even hesitating on which honorific he should use to address him, was kind of making him feel even more guilty.

"I guess, Matsumoto without any honorific is just fine for now," Jun finally added after another awkward second, not even daring to look at the other man.

It was a little strange, but considering the situation and assuming that this man really knew him for years, it would sound stupid to insist on the usage of honorifics, Jun decided. He didn't need to make this even more awkward than it already was.

"So Matsumoto it is," Aiba repeated, as if he still had to adjust to the sound of the name, but his voice sounded quite a bit happier again, which strangely made Jun feel relieved.

Then, Jun started panicking again. Now that things were kind of cleared up between them, what would happen next? Would Aiba bombard him with questions, and old stories and whatever that apparently had connected them in their past – if this was even true – and expect Jun to make "Oh" and "Ah" and remember every silly little detail? Because he simply could not, it wasn't that easy!

Aiba took a deep breath, and Jun was so not ready to see his current fears coming true, but instead, Aiba just jumped right in front of him and reached out his hand towards Jun, with a determined expression on his face. Jun raised his eyebrows in confusion. The other man didn't hesitate for long though, before fishing for Jun's hand for a firm handshake.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Matsumoto, I hope we can get along well," the man said, smiling widely, and this time, Jun could feel that it was a sincere smile. "You can call me however you want. Aiba or Masaki, or even Aiba-chan. I don't mind, choose whatever you feel comfortable with!"

Jun hesitated for a bit, considering his options and trying each of them in his head, wondering, if he used to call this man Aiba-chan, when they were kids, until he settled on one.

"I'll go with Aiba for the time being, then. Nice to meet you too, I guess," he replied, nodding slightly at the other man, who was nibbling on his lower lips, but didn't lose his cheerful expression.

"I didn't expect to meet you here, have you visited the market these past few days too?" Aiba asked, curiously but not too intrusively, and Jun quickly caught up with his question and the motivation behind it.

"Ah, no, my business partner, Sakurai, has been taking this task until today," the young man started to explain. "But I figured, he was wasting a bit too much money by buying too many groceries that I couldn't use up properly, so I decided to come here myself. Although I have to admit, I would prefer staying in bed for a little longer. I'm not an early bird."

"I see," Aiba nodded, an understanding expression on his face.

He then let his eyes wander all over Jun, from head to toes, and ended up locking eyes with him again, a smirk on his face. Jun frowned, wondering if he said something too awkward. Why the hell was he even giving away so many unnecessary details to this apparently not-so-unfamiliar stranger, he wondered. Wasn't this just weird?

It was Aiba then who reacted even weirder, turning around, seemingly ready to leave, but not before cheerfully telling Jun to, "Wait here, I'll be right back!"

Confused, Jun could do nothing but stare after the young man, who dashed off and vanished between some nearby booths, leaving Jun behind. The young man crossed his arms, confusion still clouding his head, and after actually following Aiba's order and waiting for a couple of minutes, Jun started thinking how stupid all this was and considered getting away from here as fast as he possibly could. But strangely enough, there was something holding him back. It was the sense of guilt and the strange wish of not wanting to disappoint the other man even more than what he must be doing already, even if technically all of this wasn't even his fault.

In the end, Aiba returned so quickly to Jun that the young man couldn't even finish his thoughts.

"Here you go, but watch it, it's hot!" Aiba said, while pushing a paper cup into Jun's direction.

Surprised, the young man took the offered drink into his own hand and the closer he brought it to his face, the stronger he could smell the sweet scent of hot chocolate, mixed with coffee and at hint of... mint? Questioning, he looked at Aiba, who was again smiling from one ear to the other.

"I swear, this is the most delicious coffee you can find on this whole market. No, in the whole town!" he corrected himself, excitedly.

"Uhm... thank you," Jun replied, nodding slightly, once more taking in the interesting combination of smells. "What exactly is this?" he asked, a little skeptic.

"It's basically hot chocolate with one expresso and peppermint syrup. It wakes you up and clears your head. You should try it, it works wonders."

Jun did as he was told, putting his lips against the edge of the paper cup to take a sip, and he lifted his eyebrows in surprise at the taste that spread in his mouth. The texture resembled melting chocolate, thick and rich of flavour, with a not too prominent but definitely present shot of strong coffee that came afterwards and ran down his throat smoothly, as well as the hint of peppermint which seemed to rise straight into his brain. The combination of flavours was something unknown to him, which he almost found incredible, considering how far and how much he had travelled during the last years, but it convinced him on the spot and truly awakened his spirits instantly, after the first sip.

"Oh my Gosh, this is like magic," Jun whispered religiously behind the paper cup he only abandoned shortly, just to come back for another sip right away. This was really incredible. And so delicious...

"I know, right?" Aiba replied, excited, before his happy smile turned into something that resembled pride. "It's my special order, you know?"

Jun frowned. "You mean, you created this combination?"

"Basically," Aiba shrugged, but it was still visible that he was actually really proud about this. Jun couldn't help but smile.

"Amazing," he said, and he meant it.

Aiba smiled back, and somehow, it made Jun feel a bit warmer and even more awake.

In the end, Aiba offered to guide Jun around and show him all his favourite booths, as apparently, he was doing the morning shopping for the izakaya he was working in (together with his family and with Nino – that Ninomiya guy Sho had laid his eyes on) as Aiba explained. Jun was tempted to decline the offer, but the other man insisted on helping, and so, the chef had no other choice than following Aiba. That guy was just too convincing, somehow and wouldn't it be impolite to dump someone who had just bought him the most delicious hot drink in existence?

Jun quickly learned that being as cheerful and friendly as Aiba definitely paid off when it came to talking and haggling with the salespeople on the market. The young man seemed to be famous, and it was sheer incredible how positive people reacted to him. Everyone seemed to know him, everyone seemed to love him. The elderly couple handling a small but cute vegetable and fruits booth in one of the side-streets, almost unnoticed when strolling through the main street of the morning market, had already pre-packed what Aiba would need for the day.

The lady even added another paper bag filled with some extra fruits and berries as a bonus for Aiba to his box of purchases, throwing him a wink and making him promise he would share those with Nino. In the end, Jun bought quite a bit of stuff there too, convinced by Aiba that it was the best place to get your fresh supplies in town. He filled up a whole wooden box, and surprisingly, he also ended up receiving some extra apples, "Because Aiba-chan's friends are our friends", as the lady told him with a smile. Jun promised to come back.

"I guess you also need some fresh fish, don't you?" Aiba asked, after they had picked some other supplies such as flour, rice, fresh eggs from an organic farm just a bit outside of the city, and more.

Jun nodded. Of course, he would need fresh fish, his creative sushi, as Sho used to call it, was immensely popular, especially the one with cucumber-tuna topping that resembled a slice of watermelon, as well as his fried ebi pizza tower, which Aiba had actually tried already, as he told Jun excitedly.

"I know the best place to get some cheap ones," Aiba grinned, gesturing Jun to follow him.

"Wait," Jun intervened, raising an eyebrow before he set straight, "I am looking for the best quality, not the cheapest fish."

Aiba smiled. "Of course, I know that. The place I'm talking about has the best quality and price. Trust me!"

Still, Jun was a little skeptic. He knew how things worked in this world. The lower the price, the lower the quality. But Aiba looked very convinced of his own words, and so far, he had indeed showed Jun some really good stuff, so he should at least give his recommendation a chance, right?

According to Aiba, they would have to walk a little further, until the other end of the market, which would get a bit exhausting, considering the amount of things they were already carrying. With this in mind, Aiba made them to stop at another shop which offered self-brewed sake. He bought a huge bottle, and kindly asked, if he and Jun could leave their stuff there for a while ("like usual"!) before coming to pick it up later. The owner, a friendly old man wearing glasses and a blue-white patterned bandana just nodded with a friendly smile and waved at them when Aiba grinned at Jun, asking him to follow.

Freed from the weight, the two men strolled down the main street of the morning market, with Aiba greeting and getting greeted in return by more people, sometimes even stopping for a minute for a little chat. Of course, he didn't forget to introduce Jun, who was a bit embarrassed first, as he was not that interested in chit chat with strangers actually, but just as before, it quickly showed that the friendliness paid off and so Jun decided that he could actually learn something from Aiba in this respect. Maybe, he should try jumping over his own shadow and follow Aiba’s example from now on.

They arrived at the end of the market just a few minutes later, the street leading them to a small booth right in front of the bay, in which the river ended behind the row of houses and shops on the right. There were the sounds of seagulls, and the smell of fish – not too strong, which indicated that it must be really fresh from the sea.

"Good morning, Aiba-kun!" the owner of the shop, a middle-aged man, already called out, cheerfully.

"Miyake-san, good morning!" Aiba replied, no less cheerful.

"You brought a friend?" the man immediately asked, when noticing Jun, who was a step behind Aiba, a bit critical about the whole thing.

The booth was really small, and it displayed – admittedly very good looking - fish at the front, of course, however, there was not that much being offered, and taking in the setup of the shop and spotting only a few more cooling boxes in the back, he assumed that there was not that much replenishment.

"This is Matsumoto Jun," Aiba introduced the young man to the owner of the shop. "He just opened up the new restaurant on my street, you heard about it, I guess?"

"Oh, the one with that unique kind of food? Nice to meet you," the man said, looking at Jun, who nodded in response to the greeting. "I indeed heard of it – only good things, of course."

"Thank you," Jun replied.

"This is Miyake-san," Aiba explained, smiling. "He has the best fish here, because he catches every single one of them with a huge amount of passion."

When Miyake started to explain today's choice, Jun took the chance to take a closer look at the offered goods. His eyes were as used to separating good from bad fish, as Aiba's must be, if he was working in an izakaya, so if Aiba considered this as good, it must be. And it was, according to Jun's observation. Very good. However, what made him startled, was the price. He blinked in disbelief when he read the price tags of the offered tuna. Yes, Aiba had said, it was cheap, however, this was just not possible.

Without even thinking further, Jun quickly reached his hand out at Aiba's sleeve, tugging at it to get the other man's attention, who was already ordering a big portion of shrimps and salmon. Slightly confused, Aiba looked at the young man, who just stared at him and nodded quickly, to indicate that he should follow him. Jun took a few steps away from the booth and turned around, his hand still linked to Aiba's sleeve, which he immediately let go when he noticed that he was still holding onto it. He cleared his throat, trying to play over the situation. Aiba still looked at him, questioning. 

"Sorry but... how is it possible that their fish is so cheap?" Jun asked in almost a whisper, making sure that Miyake could not hear him. "Isn't that strange?"

Aiba chuckled shortly, stopping immediately when Jun slightly bumped his elbow into the man's side to stop him from being loud. Confused, Jun frowned at Aiba, who then flashed him a smile and leaned a bit closer, keeping their voices low. Jun held his breath, when he realized that he was able to take in the scent of Aiba's aftershave from that distance, and quickly tried to brush away the random thought. Even more confusing though, was the feel of Aiba's warm breath next to his ear. It awkwardly triggered a somehow pleasant shiver running down Jun's back. He tried his best to ignore it.

"I know what you mean, I couldn't believe it either in the beginning," Aiba started. "But the fact is that the Miyakes are a wealthy family. Miyake-san owns a very successful business, and fishing is only a hobby for him. So he might not have the widest range to offer, sometimes I have to get a specific kind of fish from somewhere else, but it's always fresh and delicious. And since he doesn't have to rely on this business, it's not expensive. He's just selling the fish he doesn't need for himself, at a very reasonable price, if you ask me. Also, Ohno-san – you know, the artist – likes fishing too as a hobby and sometimes borrows one of Miyake-san's boats for a trip. If he catches something, he gives them to the Miyakes in exchange. He himself doesn't cook, anyway."

"I see... that's indeed...," Jun wanted to say too good to be true, but decided on, "Really lucky for the restaurants nearby."

Aiba flashed him another one of his cheerful smiles. "And because I'm always early, I have the best choice out of all. Well, you too, now, if you plan to buy from them. If you want my recommendation, you should! They sell out quite fast," Aiba said, before he added something more. “Oh, and I forgot to mention, the best thing is, Miyake-san's nephew is doing delivery, so no more carrying if you don't have any hands free."

He ironically lifted his at the moment empty hands, as he had left the stuff at the sake shop, but Jun smiled. He got the idea.

"That's indeed useful," he said, nodding appreciatingly.

"And it doesn't cost much, it's just a 200 yen more and they will come over with the fish stored in an ice box at whatever time you prefer," Aiba added, before he turned back to the booth and finished his order. "Miyake-san, please bring this order around nine o'clock, if possible."

"Sure, Aiba-kun, no problem, I'll send Ken over then," the man behind the small counter replied, starting to pack his customer's choice of fish into one of the already prepared cooling boxes that was filled with ice and adding a note on top of it, bearing Aiba's name.

"Great!"

"And you, young man?" Miyake asked, turning to Jun, who had returned to Aiba's side, and was again eyeing the offer. "Would you like to use our delivery service too?"

Jun was indeed tempted to choose something. "I'm considering it."

"Take your time to decide," the man smiled at him.

Actually, Jun was almost convinced to take some of the fish and, so he did not hesitate too long before placing his order and asking for delivery as well.

It didn't take long before Aiba and Jun had their other purchases back in their hands, each of them carrying about two wooden boxes of fresh ingredients for each of their restaurants, and were walking back all the way, through the market street, and then back to their own part of the shopping district. Jun had expected this part of work to be the most annoying and exhausting, considering his usual mental and physical tiredness in the morning. However, with Aiba walking right next to him and talking about everything under the sun, spreading his incredible positive energy, which never seemed to ebb away, made the task surprisingly bearable, and even fun.

Jun appreciated that Aiba considerably chose topics that weren't really touching on their alleged joint past, but instead talked about very diverse things, stuff he heard on the news, an upcoming movie he was excited about, his current favourite song, or recommending nice shops from the area to him. He even shared a few information about his friend Nino (who he apparently wanted to set up with Sho, much to Jun's amusement as well as relief, maybe, this time his friend would be a bit luckier with his chosen one?) and asked Jun about his favourite TV-shows. It even turned out that Aiba liked about the same comedians as Jun, which was another plus point to the whole situation. Yes, Jun definitely had to admit that even if he never expected this, in the end, the unexpected – and even if in the beginning it was unappreciated – meeting with Aiba this morning had turned into something very pleasant. 

They parted ways in front of Jun's restaurant in a very good mood, with the promise to meet again next morning for another shopping tour of the morning market in their pockets. Even if Jun couldn't pinpoint yet, why exactly, somehow, he was already looking forward to it. It had been fun walking with Aiba through that part of town, getting to know all these people through him, experiencing the market for the first time in a very positive way, and hopefully also leaving a positive impression on its inhabitants, thanks to Aiba's cheerful way of introducing Jun to all and each salespeople so enthusiastically. This could have turned out so much worse, Jun didn't even want to imagine. Who would have thought that the grumpy, sleepy guy he was in the early morning, would be a happy, smiling man by now? And all this was just thanks to Aiba. Maybe, even if he was not able to remember him, even if at first, he was not even the tiniest little bit interested in getting to know him better, they would be able to actually become friends.

"I'm back!" Jun chimed, when he entered the restaurant not even fifteen minutes later.

"Good morning!" Sho, who was already preparing the tables in the front for opening replied, whirling around until he was standing right in front of his friend. He was already dressed up in his waiter's uniform, and with his sorrowfully furrowed eyebrows, he looked dead serious. "So how was it? You didn't meet any accident by tripping over something? Didn't fall asleep over buying something?"

"It's fine Sho, don't worry," Jun chuckled, even if he knew that the situations Sho mentioned weren't as funny as they sounded – rather already experienced -, before he walked on to the kitchen isle at the back of the restaurant to place the two heavy boxes he was carrying onto the working surface. "I had the most delicious and effective coffee ever, I swear. I found everything we need, as you see, ah, and the fish is being delivered in about one or two hours."

Curious, Sho had followed his friend, who was now unpacking the groceries he bought. "Delivered? Here? I didn't know they offer such service."

"Yep, it was a secret tip, there's a small but really great fish shop and they even deliver their goods for a small charge of just 200 yen extra, which isn't much considering their cheap prices," Jun started babbling, while he divided the groceries into categories and pushed some things into Sho's hands, asking him to store them away, which Sho obliged, turning around to put a fresh bottle of fine olive oil into the back-up storage. Then, as if he had almost forgotten to mention, Jun continued, "Ah, and Sho, we're invited for tonight."

"What?" his friend turned around, now empty handed and again wearing a frown on his face.

Jun had to admit that it was kind of fun to see Sho so puzzled. He probably did not expect Jun to talk at all, since it was still early in the morning, and now he just gave him an almost full report about what happened at the market.

"After we closed the restaurant, at Aiba's izakaya," Jun said, before adding with a smug grin, "Dress up, if you want to impress Nino."

"Nino?" Sho frowned, confused, before realization hit him. "You mean Ninomiya?"

"Who else?"

"You call him Nino?!" Sho asked, even more confused. "What happened?!"

"Nothing," Jun shrugged, trying to keep his casual attitude in front of his friend. "I just met Aiba at the morning market and he referred to him as Nino."

"You met Aiba?" Sho asked, surprised.

"Yeah, I didn't expect it either but then he showed me around, and we talked for a while..."

Sho stepped in front of Jun, staring at his business partner. "And?"

"We did not talk about our childhood, if that's what you're referring to," Jun rolled his eyes before walking around his friend in order to start washing the fresh vegetables. "We talked about food," he sighed, seeing Sho's slightly disappointed face. "Give me some more time, OK?"

"OK, sure," Sho replied, nodding. "It's a first step, that's good! So, tonight, izakaya. Maybe, we can find out something then... I mean, if you want to try."

For a second, Jun hesitated, but then, he actually started to consider this option.

"...Maybe. Let's see."

"Great," Sho smiled widely, just to lose his smile right away when he realized something. He looked at his friend, completely serious. "OK, Jun, I think I need to go pick a proper outfit for later. I mean, I can't go there in my uniform, and I can't show myself with the baggy sweater I came in this morning. I'll be back as soon as possible and finish setting up everything, I promise."

Jun chuckled amused, already picturing his friend creating a huge chaos in front of his wardrobe at home in order to find the perfect outfit for tonight. He considered telling his friend, that Aiba – prepared another few hints to be forwarded for Sho in order to impress Nino – had told Jun that Nino was actually not someone who gave that much weight on appearance. However, this was just too funny at the moment.

"Alright, but don't overdo it, and be back in at most an hour," Jun said, pretending to be strict.

"I'll give my best!" Sho yelled from the entrance door before he was gone.

- - + - -

Night time couldn't come faster today, if someone asked Aiba. Ever since his shopping tour with Jun at the market this morning, Aiba just couldn't wait to see the other man again. The exciting tingle he felt throughout his whole body on this anticipation made Aiba work even faster than usual, and once in a while, he was even humming some cheesy love songs while cooking, his heart wallowing in ideas of what the future might bring for him and Jun.

Besides this tiny little voice in his head that told him that it was just impossible that Jun really forgot everything about their common past, there was also another voice in his mind, yelling at him. Yelling at him, that this was his chance to shine, that this was his chance to get to know Jun once again, and to make him interested in him, and to make him his, once and for all.

OK, probably, it was silly, and much too early to hope for anything to happen between them, but dreaming was allowed, wasn't it?

Actually, Nino had accused Aiba of "giving up on his dream" – referring to the one he shared with Jun during their childhood, however, for Aiba, it was simply that Plan A did not quite work out as planned. This did not mean though that Plan B was a so much worse option. Although he and Jun had not achieved their dream together, but separately, consequently it did not mean that this was the end of the world.

Just being able to be with Jun, at the same time in the same spot in this whole big world, once more, was a miracle, and Aiba should be doomed if he didn't make the best out of it.

He still could not know where this would bring him and Jun, but of course, Aiba would be thrilled, if the love story featuring him and Jun would finally get a sequel. When Jun left town after Aiba had kissed him for the first time, years ago, both had been oblivious on how things would develop from that point. Unexpectedly, their story had been put on hiatus, things had happened, things had changed, and now they were back to zero, but maybe, this wasn't a bad thing.

It really wasn't like Aiba was craving love just for love's sake. Ever since a short experimental phase years ago, when he was still trying to forget about Jun – unsuccessfully – Aiba had decided to wait and now Jun was back, just like Aiba's feelings. They were adults now, and Jun had grown into an extremely handsome man with a fascinating personality, as far as Aiba could judge. Who could actually blame Aiba for falling for that man all over again?

Aiba had to admit that it had been quite a shocking moment when in the morning, Jun asked him not to address him by his given name. And indeed, Aiba had to push back his joy over being able to meet Jun again, in order to make space for their current reality. A reality, in which Jun and he were more or less kind of strangers. But Aiba had collected himself quite fast, reminding himself, that he first had to accept things the way they were, in order to make them change. And he could proudly say that he indeed managed to change the situation between him and Jun quite a lot already, within the time span of only a day.

They were almost strangers in the morning, with Jun being rather repellent towards him. But Jun had also warmed up unexpectedly quickly in Aiba's presence. At the end of their shopping tour they even had exchanged numbers, which Aiba counted as a huge success.

Noticing, that the man's number differed from the old one Aiba still saved as "Jun" in his phone, Aiba swore to himself that he would make sure to keep that new number safe forever. The two of them quickly connected via LINE, and while Aiba spent the time before midday pondering over what kind of message (or sticker) he should sent Jun in order to start a conversation, in the end, Jun had texted him first! Including an adorable Rilakkuma sticker, as he announced that Sakurai and himself would come and pay the izakaya a visit later, following Aiba's invitation and to carry out his and Aiba's "plan".

In fact, hearing Jun talking about Sakurai's failed love stories and how much the chef wanted his friend to finally find love, immediately made Aiba want to help out. Thus, he and Jun already started to make plans on how they were going to provide Sakurai with another chance to meet and hit on Nino, who he apparently had fallen in love with indeed, head over heels.

Sakurai seemed to be a cheerful and sincere guy – even with a bit of a quirky flirting style - and Aiba knew that if Sakurai was the person Jun chose to be close friends with for the last few years, he could only be a good guy. Also, whilst Nino might be a hard nut to crack, it didn't mean that he wasn't capable of holding a lot of affection, love and loyalty within his heart. He usually hid it very well, and probably needed a little more time and a loving push in the back to get involved with someone, but once Sakurai managed to find a way into Nino's heart, both of them would probably become very happy.

Aiba definitely didn't consider things as hopeless and with Jun on board, he was sure they would be able to set their two friends up. With this in mind, Aiba offered the izakaya as their stage to bring the two men together and see if he and Jun could be of any help.

So, if everything would go according to plan, this evening there would be two birds killed with one stone – although Aiba hated this saying due to its imaginative violence. First, he and Jun would try to get Sho and Nino together, and second, he and Jun would be able to talk, just by themselves, to get to know each other better, again. He was really looking forward to that.

- - + - -

Time flew by, as it was a busy evening at the izakaya. It had become late, and usually, the izakaya would be quiet by now, as most people did not want to go to bed too late, especially with a working day coming up. However, contradicting the norm, of course, today there was still a hard core group of guests sitting at the bar, consisting of Aiba and Nino's friends from the flower shop next door, Yuriko and Toma (who was already a little drunk and concentrating deeply to build a tower of cards with Nino's trump set that he borrowed), as well as Ohno and his assistant Ishihara.

The latter tried hard to convince the artist to accept a requested interview that he received from a famous art magazine, however, Ohno's attention was much more dedicated to a bowl of Aiba's freshly made special ramen, much to the chef's delight, of course. Aiba's parents just called it a day and went up to bed, wishing everyone a good night, and so the atmosphere rather resembled one of a reunion of friends than a customer – service situation.

Aiba smiled while he was grilling some more yakitori for Yuriko. This was, how he enjoyed his job the most.

Nino was about to start cleaning up some of the empty tables in the front, when finally, the jingle at the entrance announced more– probably their last – guests for the day. Aiba's head shot up, and his heart rate too, when indeed he spotted Jun entering the izakaya, followed by Sakurai.

The young man looked around a bit insecurely, and then nodded towards Nino, who froze in his movement, staring at their new guests. Aiba had not warned his friend about the two men's visit. He didn't want him to flee upstairs even before they arrived.

"Aiba-chan, the chicken, the chicken!" Yuriko pointed out, snapping her fingers in front of Aiba's face, who quickly pulled himself together and breaking away from the sight of Jun, to focus back on the food in front of him.

He finished grilling the meat – getting it done perfectly, of course – and placed it on top of a small plate in front of Yuriko for her to enjoy, and then looked back at the entrance, waving at Jun, who flashed him a smile when he spotted him, approaching the bar.

Aiba almost burst into laughter when he then saw Sakurai walking up behind Jun, all dressed up in a neat suit, his hair styled sideway, revealing his slight undercut on the exposed side, and holding loosely a single yellow rose wrapped up in cellophane tied with a red ribbon, giving off a pretty cool image. Aiba's almost-snort made the other guests at the bar curiously turn around too, to investigate the newcomers. He nearly lost it for real, when Yuriko's surprised "oh" at the sight of Sakurai gave Aiba enough information to reason that the man must have been customer at the woman's shop sometime during the day, in order to get that exact flower.

Nino was still standing there, half-bent over a table, a wet cloth in his one hand to wipe the surface, and his disbelieving look darted at Sakurai, who was wearing an alluring smile on his face made a few steps forward to the other man, shamelessly taking in his appearance.

"Good evening, Beautiful," Sho said in a low voice, and Aiba could swear that Nino just twitched in shock at being called that, again. "Wow, you are wearing a cute uniform... I must say, blue really suits you," the man said, obviously appreciating the izakaya's uniform, consisting of a dark blue yukata-like top shirt paired with matching long pants and a grey and light green patterned short apron wrapped around the waist, with enough pockets to store away a notepad, pens and a small towel.

Quickly looking down on himself, Nino finally moved, his posture changing a bit, as if he wanted to hide, and then there was it again, that light blush on his face. Aiba couldn't help but throw Jun a meaningful grin, who mirrored the same expression before turning his head again to witness the rest of the scene.

"I've got a present for you, please accept it," Sakurai continued, taking another step towards the young man in front of him, and finally reached out the yellow rose towards him with a charming smile on his face before adding, "It means affection in the language of flowers."

Nino continued staring at the man in front of him, for another few awkward seconds, seemingly at a loss of words, before he took a deep breath and then finally parted his lips, causing Sakurai to risk hoping for a nice greeting, but instead blowing him away with a bitchy comment.

"How can you even feel affection towards me, you don't even know me!" Nino barked, crossing his arms in front of his chest, aversively, frowning at the other man as if he had gone completely crazy.

Luckily, Sakurai didn't let Nino get him down, and instead replied in all honesty, and with an enviable amount of self-confidence, "I might not know you yet, but I want to change that!"

"You're incredible...," Nino just replied, shaking his head in disbelief.

Sakurai smirked. "May I take that as a compliment?"

"Hell, no!" Nino exploded.

However, he then reached out his hand to snatch the offered flower from Sakurai's hand. He turned around facing Aiba and the others, dropping his look towards the floor in conspicuous embarrassment. His face was flushed red when he hurried towards the izakaya's bar counter, and started searching for a glass tall enough to fill it with water and put the flower into it, after freeing it from the plastic wrapping in fast, almost aggressive movements.

In the meantime, Sakurai followed and taken place next to Jun, who had already chosen an empty seat in front of the bar. While Aiba was greeting him with a friendly smile and handed him the same drink and snack menu that he had already given to Jun, as well as a small tray with a warm wet hand towel, Sakurai leaned a little forward, as if to consult Aiba about the situation.

"He didn't throw it away...," the man said, trying to keep his voice low. "Is that a good sign?"

Yuriko, just a few seats further, chuckled, catching Sakurai's attention before she smiled at him, apologetically. "Since I'm the one owning the flower shop next door, and he knows I'd kill him if he threw away a poor flower, so don't interpret too much into it."

"Ah, I remember you, thanks for your recommendation today," Sakurai replied, greeting the young woman with a nod, who lifted her glass of sake to toast the man. "But damned... I planned to impress him..."

"Your entrance was indeed impressive, if you ask me," Aiba reassured him, laughing. "And if I remember correctly, I think it's the first time Nino received flowers from someone, right, Nino?"

"Who cares...," Nino grumped, running back to the tables in the front in order to continue his task of cleaning them.

When Sakurai got up from his seat and approached the young man, obviously wanting to speak to him again, Nino just threw him a strict look and fled back to Aiba's side behind the counter and searched for something else to occupy his fidgety fingers with. Aiba chuckled, and reached his hand to ruffle through Nino's hair, just to be pushed away slightly by him, earning an annoyed glance.

"Sakurai won't bite, so don't be so shy, Nino," Aiba said.

"I'd rather call that cold than shy," Jun murmured challenging, earning an icy glare from Nino but before he could add something more, someone else cut in.

"Ninomiya-kun, if I may give you just one piece of advice," Ishihara sighed loudly, standing up from her seat, reaching her hand over the counter to pat Nino's shoulder, and giving him a look mixed with bitterness and knowledge. "If someone gives you flowers, you better take them and be grateful. It probably won't happen ever again."

"Why do I suddenly feel indirectly criticized?" Ohno wondered quietly, furrowing his eyebrows at Aiba, who just shrugged with a grin on his face.

"We're going, it's late already!" Ishihara then declared, letting go off Nino and turning back to the seat to search her purse for her wallet.

However, when she wanted to turn around and hand the money over to Aiba, she got stopped suddenly by Ohno, who unexpectedly spread his arm before her, halting the woman in her action. Singlehandedly, he took a last sip from his now emptied ramen bowl, and then reached into his pockets for his own wallet, wordlessly waving it towards Aiba, trying to pull his move off as nonchalantly and cool as possible.

"Hers is on me too," he then finally said, throwing a meaningful look at his assistant, who just rolled her eyes demonstratively.

"If you think that paying for my beer and serving of edamame solves it all, then you're on the wrong track, Satoshi," she said, pursing her full lips at him.

"Oh come on, don't be like that!" the artist replied in a whiny tone, pulling some bank notes from his wallet and putting them on top of the counter in front of Aiba, who took them, gratefully and searched for the change to give back to his customer.

"If you need any recommendations, Ohno-san, I can help you, just come to my shop," Yuriko said, probably really trying to be helpful, but the artist was already in a bad mood.

"Don’t you have enough customers today?" he snapped, pouting and quickly nodding towards Sakurai. "Seriously, what's with all these cheeky women here..."

"Hey, don't call her cheeky, she's wonderful!" Toma suddenly shouted, pulled out of his concentration, and at the same time he knocked over his quite impressive card tower.

"Aw, thank you, that's so cute!" Yuriko said, touched, before she started collecting some of the messed-up cards. "But look what you've done, what a shame... we better leave too, I think."

She pulled out her own wallet, fully understanding that her company was not able to move properly any longer – she probably should have told him to stop after his second beer – and paid Aiba. She told Toma to put one of his arms around her shoulders so that she could help him get outside. Ohno – although not completely sober anymore either – immediately offered his help too. Aiba laughed at the sight of Toma unsuccessfully trying to fight off the artist ("You called her cheeky!") who then apologized to both women, while being guided outside of the izakaya, Ishihara following them, still huffy at her boss. Luckily, all of them didn't have to go far to reach their homes.

As soon as Ohno and the others left, not without wishing everyone staying behind a good night, Sakurai cleared his throat, trying hard to get back Nino's attention, who seemed extremely busy with tidying something in the cupboard below the sink, although Aiba was convinced that the young man was only trying to hide from his admirer. While flashing Sakurai a smile, Aiba reached down and grabbed the back of Nino's collar, pulling his friend slightly but determined up to make him stand straight right next to him, until he was face to face with Sakurai with only the bar between them.

"So, now it's just... the four of us," Sakurai finally said, letting his eyes wander from Nino to Aiba, Jun, and then back to Nino again, locking eyes with the young man.

"You know what? Make it three," Nino countered, quickly averting his eyes, and already starting to untie the knot of his apron. "I'm leaving."

"What? Why?" Sakurai asked, disappointed, his grin completely wiped off his handsome face.

"I have... homework to do," Nino replied after a moment of thinking.

It probably wasn't even a lie, but it could definitely wait for one more hour, Aiba assumed, so he immediately got a grip on Nino's hand, stopping him in his movement, and slightly pulled him back.

"No no no, you're staying here, young man, I need you to help me clean up," Aiba intervened.

His friend gave him his best puppy eyes. "I'll do it tomorrow morning?"

But Aiba was stronger.

"You are staying, we still have guests," he said, decisively, pushing a dry towel and a glass to be polished into Nino's free hands before he himself proceeded to serve Jun with some snacks that the other man had not even ordered, but still took, gratefully.

"Tsk." Unnerved, Nino slightly rolled his eyes.

He ended up looking right into Sakurai's eyes accidentally, who smiled at him, amused, his hand supporting his chin, while he was obviously observing the young man's every move. Suddenly, for Nino there was nothing more interesting in this world than the glass in his hand, and nothing was more important than polishing it like crazy.

"Sakurai-san, why don't you tell us a bit more about yourself?" Aiba then requested, turning his attention towards the strange couple. "For example, what are your hobbies?"

"Oh, I do have a lot of hobbies!" Sakurai immediately picked up, looking at Aiba first, before his attention almost naturally focused back on Nino. "I like travelling, dancing, going out for a walk..."

"Oh, that sounds really interesting," Aiba immediately nodded, approving while Jun added that his friend could also sing pretty well, making Sakurai shrug nonchalantly, but didn’t denying the compliment.

"Hmpf." Nino on the other hand did not really seem to approve.

"I also like reading good books, and listening to music," Sakurai continued, and it sounded so naturally and convincing that Aiba really wondered, if he was only trying to say something to impress Nino, or if he was really interested in so many different things.

"Hm..."

"And I love going to the movies," Sakurai ended his list.

"…"

Nino froze, Sakurai raised his eyebrows, exchanging a wondering look with Jun, and Aiba grinned.

"Here we go, Nino, isn't that nice?" Aiba immediately jumped back into the conversation – if you could even call it that – nudging his elbow into Nino's side. "Sakurai-san is a movie fan too~!"

"Oh please could you just...," Nino whispered, desperately, but it was already too late.

"Oh, you are a movie fan too, Ninomiya-san?" Sakurai was even more hooked than before, his eyes shining brightly and his lips forming a really happy smile.

Aiba grinned. If Nino didn't think of that man as cute now, he didn't know his friend anymore.

"You know, Nino is an aspiring film maker," Aiba contributed to clear the way for a deeper conversation between Sakurai and Nino. "He's currently studying at the film school. We're watching a bunch of movies together and he's really great at analyzing them and -"

"Masaki, please... stop now?" the younger man tried it again with the puppy eyes, but Aiba stayed strong and instead gestured his friend to focus on Sakurai.

"That's really interesting!" the man said, nodding appreciating, focusing on Nino again. "Do you mind telling me more about that? Which is your favourite movie?"

Hearing this, Nino took a deep breath, put the now perfectly polished glass back onto the counter with a loud thump, and finally, he was completely involved in the conversation.

"You ask me to pick one favourite movie? Excuse me, but, are you nuts?!"

"There we go," Aiba smirked towards Jun, knowing that their plan had finally kicked in.

Nino wouldn't be able to leave this topic uncleared, and surely not only lecture Sakurai over his lack of understanding the passion of a real movie lover and the sheer impossibility of picking only one favourite movie, and then he would be busy talking about movies for the next couple of hours, not minding at all that initially, he had not planned to exchange one single word with that man in front of him. That was real passion, Aiba thought, but he didn't mind it. To the contrary, he appreciated that it would actually work into his hands in this aspect and he was sure, Nino would enjoy it – not only due to the conversation topic, but also because of his conversation partner. It might not be obvious to everyone's eyes, but Aiba was convinced that there was some kind of chemistry between Nino and Sakurai, which in the end, even Nino would not be able to deny.

Now, with Sakurai occupying cloud nine with receiving Nino's full attention finally, all at once, somehow it was only Aiba and Jun left. It was just now, that his heartbeat quickened again, reminding him, how excited he had been about Jun coming to visit initially.

There was a short but awkward silence, which Jun used to take a big sip from the beer Aiba had served him, and Aiba tried hard to find a topic to talk about with the young man while tidying some things on the counter to keep his hands busy. It wasn't like it was hard to find something to talk about, to the contrary, Aiba's mind was filled with tons of different things that he wanted to ask and to tell Jun. So many, that in the end, he simply didn't know where to start. It was Jun who broke the awkward silence first.

"So, what is your favourite movie?" the young man asked, cutely tilting his head and smirking at Aiba, who couldn't help but grin at this adorable gesture. "That is, if you can decide on only one," he added, making Aiba laugh.

"Actually, it's really quite hard to pick only one favourite, isn't it?" the man then asked in return.

"True," Jun chuckled, taking another sip from his beer.

"Maybe, the four of us should go to the cinema someday," Aiba suggested (not daring to ask for a date between just the two of them yet), before silence could creep back between them.

"Yeah, why not," Jun nodded with a smile on his lips. "If you can convince the little grump to come along, Sho would really appreciate that, I think."

"We probably should let him pick the movie then," Aiba chuckled and Jun joined him.

"I think, I can live with that," Jun then said, before he took another bite from his food. "By the way, these gyoza are the best gyoza I ever had," he admitted, shamelessly. "How do you make them?"

"Family recipe," Aiba said in a proud voice, as if this was everything that needed to be said.

Jun nodded, before he raised one of his eyebrows. "And the secret ingredient is...?"

"A secret," Aiba replied, throwing Jun a wink. Well, he tried to. And failed. Probably, he blushed a little from the embarrassment, but he might be able to blame it on the heat behind the grill.

Jun burst into laughter, his face lightening up, and Aiba's heart performed a somersault in his chest. There it was again, this wonderful laughter that he loved so much. That happy face that made Jun look like he never grew up. Since Jun showed up again, Aiba felt like his friend had grown into a serious adult, but he still was able to laugh like this, and it was amazing.

Of course, Jun did not ask further, respecting Aiba's reply – even if he still seemed to be highly amused by Aiba's failed wink – and instead came up with another topic connected to food.

"By the way, I saw an advertisement in the newspaper for the local summer festival," the young man said. "It's still quite a bit before that, but people already seem to think about it, aren't they?"

Aiba nodded. "There's not really a need to rush, but the organizers like to start early. They will probably come around to your restaurant soon and ask you if you want to join and if yes, in which form."

"You mean, if we'd like to take part in the street sale with food from our restaurant?"

"Exactly. Well, it's not obligatory, but for example, you could make a small booth with desserts or other small treats that people can take with them while walking past. I'm sure, they would be thrilled to get some of your creations to go," Aiba said. "Oh, and we're all supposed to dress up in yukatas and the like, you know? To create this traditional feeling..."

"That sounds really nice," Jun smiled. "Do you participate every year?"

"Of course," Aiba replied, a warm smile spreading on his face. His heart started beating a bit faster. "I can't wait for the next one. This year... it will be something special."

Questioning, Jun looked at the man behind the counter. "Something special?"

"Yes," Aiba smiled, his heartbeat so powerful in his chest, that for a short moment, he pressed his hand against his chest to calm it down a little bit before focusing back on his work and he was ready to add the next few words, heavy from nostalgia. "Because you're back and we can celebrate together again."

Jun was just looking at Aiba, with those beautiful brown eyes of him that seemed to draw Aiba in like nothing else on this world. Still. Like it always had been. For a moment, it felt so intense for Aiba that it was like his breath was being sucked out of him while his heart skipped a beat.

The two men looked at each other for a few seconds, without saying anything more, and Aiba would have paid a fortune to be able to read Jun's thoughts. But of course, he wasn't able to do that and so the moment passed, and everything turned back to normal. Or so. Jun reached for his beer again, taking the last sip and then, he ordered a second one, which Aiba quickly provided him with.

"Don't you have anything to drink? I'd like to make a toast to the upcoming summer festival," Jun said, although he wasn't looking at Aiba.

"Ah, I'm not drinking during working hours, but wait," the other man replied, getting himself a glass of lemonade that he reached into his old friend's direction with a wide smile. "That doesn't mean we can't make a toast."

Jun looked at him again, smiling, and lifted his beer to clink glasses with the izakaya's chef. "To the summer festival. May it become a great one and may we celebrate it together!"

Aiba nodded, swallowing before he replied. "May it become the greatest of all."

They each took a big sip from their glasses and laughed, before returning to their talk. Aiba told Jun a few funny anecdotes from the past few years' festivals, and made sure to recommend him the best booths already, causing the other man to chuckle and tell him that he wouldn't be able to memorize all these until it was actually time for the festival. Aiba just waved his hand, promising that he would find the time to show Jun around then, if he wanted to, which the other gratefully accepted.

Afterwards, Jun reported to Aiba how much he loved the fish they had chosen this morning, and how convenient the Miyake's delivery service was. Aiba was proud to have recommended something so useful, and then the two chefs started talking more about food, until Aiba asked the fateful question of how Jun became inspired to create so many interesting dishes and to combine Western with Japanese cuisine. It made the younger man pull out his phone and start a slide show of wonderful, colourful and really impressive pictures (not only but mainly showing different kinds of food) he had taken from his trip with Sho all over Europe, just a couple of weeks before the opening of their restaurant. Aiba would be a liar if he said he wasn't slightly envious about the awesome experience, and he couldn't help but wonder, if he and Jun would have made such a journey together too, if things had turned out a bit differently.

The young man quickly brushed away this thought, as soon as he felt it putting weight on his heart. He wanted to enjoy the rest of the evening and he indeed did enjoy how Jun opened up to him more and more, telling him small stories and sharing ideas with him. It was like a miracle itself, and although this friendship that was blossoming now between them was something completely new, it also had something familiar to it. One way or the other, it felt great, and Aiba loved every minute he spent together with Jun, no matter what.

It became expectedly late, and it was only when Jun's eyes brushed his watch, when he slightly cursed.

"Gosh, I hate to say this, but if I'm supposed to show up early tomorrow for the morning market, I fear, I should better go home now and try to catch at least a few hours of sleep," the young man said, flashing Aiba an apologetic smile.

"Oh," the other had not realized either, how late it had become, and a quick glance to the side showed him that they had not been the only ones.

Nino was seemingly still busy with basically giving a verbal report about the movie paper he recently handed in for class, having Sakurai figuratively hanging on his lips in awe, obviously impressed (or maybe just staring at the young man's lips, Aiba wasn't so sure about that, honestly).

"Well, I'd appreciate meeting you there in the morning, so probably, I should let you guys go now," Aiba said with a smile, looking back at Jun, even if he wouldn't mind talking to Jun until the sun would rise again, at all.

Jun smiled. "I still might need a mint-chocolate-coffee, though. You need to tell me where exactly I can get it."

"I'll show you," Aiba replied.

"Sho, I'm calling it a day, are you coming with me or would you two love birds prefer to keep flirting for a little longer?" the other man then asked, a bit louder to be heard by Sakurai and Nino, after emptying his beer.

As if being ripped out of concentration, Nino immediately stopped talking, much to Sakurai's dislike, his face red.

"We are not flirting!" the young man claimed.

"Well, Sho is, or at least, he's trying to," Jun chuckled under his hand, exchanging a meaningful look with Aiba.

"I guess, it's really getting late and I probably disturbed you long enough. I'm sorry for keeping you awake for so long," Sakurai told Nino in a gentleman-like way.

The young man looked at him with a plain expression, not replying anything and instead just reached his hand for Sakurai's empty dishes and took them to wash them up. While Nino was doing so, Sakurai quickly pulled out a pen from his pockets and grabbed the nearest napkin to scribble something onto it, before placing it facing towards Nino on the counter. The young man looked up from his work, already finished and drying his hands, quickly reached for the napkin and then blushed once more before he pushed it back towards his guest.

"Sakurai-san, I beg you to take your trash with you!" Nino grumbled, earning a confused frown by the other man.

"That's my phone number!"

"I repeat -"

"I want you to keep it!" Sakurai cut the young man's words and pushed the napkin back into his direction.

"Why should I?" Nino asked, stubbornly, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Come on, Ninomiya-kun," the other man continued, charmingly tilting his head and smiling at the man behind the bar counter. "We get along quite well, don't you think so too? I'd like to continue our talk, it was very interesting and I-"

"Ninomiya-san, for you, still," Nino cut in, coldly.

"I may say that you're really harsh on me, considering that you shared your most interesting film theories with me just now," Sakurai noted. Apparently, he could be stubborn too if he wanted to.

"You're still our rival. Now take this and go!"

Nino reached at the napkin for a last time and literally throwing it towards the other man. It didn't really reach anywhere close and just floated strangely in the air so that Sakurai finally reached out his hands and caught it, just to place it back on the counter, this time out of Nino's reach.

"I'll place it here, OK?" he suggested, smiling nonchalantly. "Think about it, you can still decide what to do with it when you're done here."

"I am done here," Nino spat and turned around.

Without looking back, he pushed open the curtain that separated the izakaya's restaurant rooms from the family's apartment upstairs and stomped up the stair, leaving the others behind. Sakurai blinked, confused, before he turned his head towards Jun and Aiba, who were still witnessing the scene in silence.

"Did he…," Sakurai started with a big frown on his forehead, pointing towards the still swinging curtain. "Did he just dump me?"

"Again," Jun added, nodding slowly.

"But don't give up, Sakurai-san!" Aiba cheered, fisting his hands in a fighting pose. "It's not a hopeless situation, he's always getting angry when he's emotional, you know?"

"MASAKI!" Nino's voice came from upstairs. "Don't think I didn't hear that!"

"See?" Aiba whispered, grinning, and showed Sakurai two thumbs up, who released a short sigh but then put back on his smile and nodded towards him.

After Jun and Sakurai paid for their drinks and snacks – insisting on it after Aiba wanted to make it "on the house" – the man finally came around the counter to guide them outside.

"Thanks for the invitation," Sakurai said, nodding towards Aiba.

"It was my pleasure. Please come back whenever you feel like it," the man replied, smiling towards the others before he locked eyes with Jun. "So, see you in the morning at the market?"

"Sure, see you there," Jun nodded.

After wishing each other a good night, the two friends left, and Aiba went back inside after watching them walk up the street for a few more seconds. He closed the door and made sure to lock up since his last two guests now had left and he could call it a day too. There wasn't much work left, since Nino had already cleaned most tables in the front – before he was interrupted by Sakurai. Aiba playfully rolled his eyes, and grinned when he came back to clear up the last few things behind the counter.

"Come out Nino, I can see your silhouette," the man said and immediately, the curtain flew open and Nino appeared.

"I wasn't hiding…"

"Of course not. Did you forget something? Sakurai's trash maybe?" Aiba asked smiling, while fishing for the napkin the other man had left behind on the counter for Nino and offering it to his friend.

"Surely not!" Nino replied, refusing to take it.

With this, Aiba stored it away in a box behind the counter, not without missing Nino's eyes following his movements.

"Say, why are you playing so hard to get?" he asked, leaning against the bar.

"I don't know what you're talking about...," Nino replied, still playing dumb, but Aiba knew exactly that Nino was completely aware of the situation.

Aiba sighed. "Sakurai-san really seems to like you."

"I don't care," Nino said in a low voice.

"He's fun, and cute, and handsome, I'm sure he's very reliable and will protect you. What else do you want from a man?"

"He's our rival!"

Nino looked at his friend with furrowed eyebrows, but the sound of his voice already indicated that his argument was losing ground, especially after how openly Aiba had welcomed their rivals in their izakaya tonight. Both, Jun and Sakurai were really nice men and compared to Nino they did not seem to have this idea of rivalry at all in their minds. They just wanted to keep their restaurant running well enough to pay their rent while following their dream. It was something admirable and something that was meant to be supported. Aiba knew that, and of course, Nino too.

"I know, you know better," Aiba therefore said. "You're just being stubborn. And you're afraid of letting new people into your life. Which is OK, but don't be so hard on Sakurai, and also not on yourself."

"Well, it would be helpful if somebody was not trying to set us up," Nino countered. "I don't like to feel pressured about who I should like and who not. Who's the one being stubborn here, huh?"

"You get a point there, I'm sorry. But I really think you two would hit it off!" Aiba chuckled slightly. His friend was just too cute and it was just too tempting to keep teasing him. "Now relax and take Sakurai's number."

"Did you even listen to me?" Nino exploded. "BURN IT!"

Again, Nino went upstairs, just to come back once more to fetch the glass that was still standing behind the counter, in which he had placed the yellow rose he received from Sakurai a bit earlier. Aiba raised his eyebrows, throwing his friend a meaningful look, who just averted his eyes, trying hard to hide his blush.

"Don't say anything," he murmured.

Aiba just kept smiling, watching Nino who vanished again as fast as he showed up. While finishing cleaning up the last few bits, Aiba hummed again, happily, one of his cheesy love songs. He was highly amused by the situation between his friend and Sakurai, and he really couldn't wait until the shell around Nino's heart would melt a little to let in the charming funny man. Even if Sakurai seemed a little unlucky with all this flirting attempts towards Nino, he seemed to be a confident, genuine and friendly guy, who surely would be able to brighten Nino's life. Yes, Aiba decided to put all of his trust in Sakurai, convinced that this man was able to give Nino what he needed, and what he himself was unfortunately unable to provide him.

He on the other hand, would try his best not to hit on Jun too hard. Even if he had a good feeling after he and his old friend had gotten along really well today, he didn't want to push things on Jun that the other man probably didn't like. But maybe, he would be allowed to get even closer to the man, soon...

- - + - -

It had been about two weeks now since the new restaurant in the shopping district opened. Jun's new restaurant. And still, even if it was as Aiba expected, the izakaya did not go bankrupt, and the guests had come back, now distributing their visits between the two restaurants. But Nino was still slightly sulky about the whole thing.

In fact, Nino knew that it was stupid to claim his dislike being based on the rivalry factor between the two places, even if in the beginning this was indeed one of his worries and – in his opinion – a legit one. But now, his main problem was, well, his main problems were simply named Matsumoto Jun and Sakurai Sho.

Nino was still kind of pissed at Jun for not remembering neither him, nor Aiba, nor the time they spent together. It wasn't even that he himself felt kind of disappointed and offended, the problem was rather that he couldn't believe that Jun managed to forget someone like Aiba! And with this, of course, also their joint dream.

Of course, Nino knew about that promise. When the three of them were children, and played together almost every day, it was all about their dreams. While Nino wanted to create stories and make movies, the only thing Aiba and Jun would talk about was their love for food and their love for cooking. They spent hours and hours together in the izakaya, helping Aiba's parents wherever they could, while trying to learn as much as possible. Nino either played along, he was never as interested in food as the other two boys, or he simply stayed close to them, watching them or writing something in a notebook that he always brought along with him. He remembered exactly that one day when he wrote something along the lines of wanting to make a short film for Aiba and Jun's planned restaurant and showed it to the whole world, so that a lot of people would come and taste their creations. Everything was written out nicely, and for Nino it sounded like a great plan. However, one day, Jun left and took all his hopes with him.

Strangely enough, while Nino kind of felt betrayed by one of his best friends, especially when one day, he suddenly stopped contacting him and Aiba all at once without any prior notice. Aiba was never obviously mad at Jun and never openly showed his disappointment.

But Nino wasn't blind. He knew that Aiba was even more hurt than he was, but he also witnessed how Aiba managed to overcome that pain with simply being himself.

For Nino, the world was often filled with injustice and bad luck and those really positive things that could happen, like the Aiba family welcoming him in their household, were very rare and far from the norm. For Aiba though, the world was a place always full of beautiful things, with new chances and opportunities around each corner. He was experimental, and he had the gift of changing what he could and accepting what he could not, something that Nino himself always had troubles with.

Exactly because Aiba was such a positive person, someone who was rarely brought down, Nino admired him deeply, and he wanted to do everything he could to protect this aspect of his best friend.

So far, there was only one point in Aiba's life when he actively acted against his nature. If he usually was someone who wanted to take new chances and try out new things (and with new things he did not only mean new ice cream flavours or games), there was that one time, he had not taken such a chance.

Aiba didn’t talk much about this, but next to his talent for cooking, and managing an izakaya, there was also another talent that he possessed and would probably even be able to develop it to a professional level.

Baseball.

Aiba had not only attended the baseball club at school until graduation, but also made Nino and half of the other neighbourhood's kids (including Jun for the first few years, until he moved away) join the baseball team he founded, and maintained it for years after graduation. Aiba always managed to be in the first line-up out on the field, playing like a beast, winning games and tournaments together with the rest of the team. Although he always only played for fun, he was so good that together with the other players, Aiba quickly brought their school's team fame and recognition on a regional level. One day during their last year of high school, a talent scout from a university even visited one of their matches to watch out for potential new talents for the university team.

Of course, they won on that fateful day, and of course, Aiba was the driving force who eventually managed to catch the talent scout's attention, even if he did not even dreamed about anything like this. For him, the offer to take on a scholarship for sports with focus on baseball at university, had come out of the blue, and much to the baseball scout's disappointment, Aiba refused it right away, insisting on his dream of becoming a professional chef together with Jun whom he believed to still remember their promise even though he was living far away. For Nino it was crystal clear what that meant.

Up to that point, Aiba had never given up on his and Jun's dream.

Further, Nino knew that Aiba was always waiting for Jun's return, and that if Jun came back one day, Aiba would have asked Jun to open up a restaurant together with him (and if Nino was lucky, they would take him along, but that wasn't the point now).

Instead, Jun cut the contacts to his old friends just like that, and now that he had the nerves to show up back here, and seemed to have forgotten all about them, completely. Instead of coming to get Aiba to fulfil their joint dream, he had gone and fulfilled his dream with another guy, that Sakurai guy. Jun had broken Aiba's heart once more, Nino knew it, and it made him so freaking angry, that he still had a really hard time trying to forgive him.

On top of that, that Sakurai guy actually had the guts to hit on him, as if Nino wasn't busy enough already with life. It was a mess, and he hated being the centre of attention. Even more, since he realized that the affection Sakurai showered on him, wasn't actually that bad, he was just immensely confused. All in all, Nino was unable to cope with the whole situation and especially since Aiba seemed to have teamed up with Jun and Sakurai, Nino felt like being left out. It made him feel like an idiot and he hated that feeling.

They couldn't blame him, if he tried to avoid all of them for a bit, could they? Because avoidance had become Nino's second nature, especially when it came to the Sakurai situation.

Yes, maybe it was a little bit flattering to be chosen by such an – admittedly – somewhat charming man as his "new target", however, Nino couldn't even accept it for real. Why would someone like Sakurai fall in love with him at first sight – with him out of all people when he surely could have anybody else he wanted – and keep flirting with him, even if Nino made clear that he was not interested? Because that was exactly what Sakurai was doing, and so, whenever there was a chance, he would drop by the izakaya, asking for Nino, maybe give him some small presents and try to invite him on a date. It was so confusing and annoying that Nino started retreating from helping in the izakaya, essentially whenever it was not necessary for him to be around, so that he could flee and hide from that man.

Honestly, it wasn't that he hated Sakurai. Sakurai was not one to be hated, he was friendly, nice, he was a gentleman, funny, even cute... but Nino hated the way his heart felt, when that man was around him. Because that feeling reminded him of what his heart used to feel in the past, whenever he was around someone else. Someone, who meant the world for him – and still did, in one way or the other.

Nino wasn't ready to experience those feelings again, he thought, especially not, if eventually, they would lead into a dead end, and even if Sakurai showed him affection now, he wondered, if the man would continue to do so, once he got to know him better. So far, too many people in Nino's life had not loved him back the same way he loved them. It was always painful, but it wasn't in Nino's power to change other people's feelings. He knew that, even if it was kind of frustrating.

The person, Nino used to have a crush on some time ago, had always literally brightened up his life. He made him appreciate life, even if he wasn't lucky enough to have a loving family around. He protected him from bullies and he supported him in finding and pursuing his dream. Without that person, Nino doubted he would still be around. For him it almost felt natural that his feelings of friendship and gratefulness eventually turned into something more. Even if he would never be brave enough to voice his feelings, especially not when he realized, that that person was feeling the same way, but for someone else.

Nino had accepted that he and Aiba would always be like brothers and best friends, rather than anything else, and he never intended to cross that line, preferring to stand back and watch and support Aiba as much as he could in everything the man wanted to achieve. But seeing Aiba's realdreams not coming true still hurt and reminded him how much that man meant to him.

Now, there was this other man, approaching Nino in a way that was completely new to him, but making his heart feel very similar to how it had felt around Aiba at times. That feeling when Sakurai talked to him, flashed him this gorgeous, sincere smile and showering him with attention that Nino still didn't understand how he deserved, made his heart constrict. It made it beat faster and louder, hammering against his chest. It made him hard to breath, sometimes, hard to think, and first and foremost, it confused Nino immensely and made him doubt. Doubting Sakurai's feelings, and also, his own. Yes, the whole situation was simply a mess.

Trying to clear up that mess in his heart and brain, Nino decided to use his break time today to consult a more "neutral" friend in this whole situation, so he could get an unbiased opinion. He was tired of talking to Aiba about Jun or Sakurai or both, and he really just needed to vent all his doubts and anger to someone who was less involved, in order to calm down.

This was how he ended up sitting in the rooms of Yuriko's colourful flower shop next door to the izakaya.

In fact, Nino and Yuriko had always gotten along well, and whenever Nino needed someone to talk about stuff he couldn't tell Aiba, for whatever reason, the young woman was his first choice. She was a great listener, but always honest with her opinion, and more importantly, she was able to keep secrets. Probably, after Aiba, Yuriko would be the one Nino considered as his best friend. So, when she innocently welcomed Nino with a simple "Hey, what's wrong?" just about half an hour ago, Nino didn't worry about holding back a wave of suddenly over bubbling feelings and words.

"I didn't give up on him in order to see him fall head over heels in love with someone who can't even remember him," Nino ended his speech, huffing. He took a deep breath and looked around, to calm his nerves.

The brightly lit shop was filled with buckets containing all different kind of flowers, beautiful pre-made flower bouquets ready to be picked up as a present, decorative items, and more. Indeed, the atmosphere was inspiring and calming at the same time, and the fresh scent was alluring. It was a nice change from the rather comfy dimly lit izakaya and the smell of food that surrounded Nino all day long when he was there.

Actually, recently the flower shop was his second favourite place to withdraw when everything got just too much for him. His room would usually be his first choice, but Aiba had developed the bad habit of trying to get him out of there, whenever Sakurai showed up to talk to him. At least, Aiba did not had the guts to bring Sakurai upstairs. Yet. Nino didn't want to risk anything though, and thus he decided to switch to seeking shelter at his friend's place once in a while instead. So here he was slumping in the seat behind the shop's counter, surrounded by a beauty that he would probably appreciate much more if he wasn't in such a bad mood.

"Don't forget that he was ALWAYS head over heels in love with that person," Yuriko added. She was standing behind Nino while fumbling with some flowers that she was trying to arrange on top of Nino's hair in a wreath form. "I know what I'm talking about. Remember when I tried dating Aiba-chan for this one time years ago?"

The woman kept focus on her work, enjoying the rare chance of having a real life model victim for her creativity, but honestly at the moment, Nino couldn't care less. Of course, Nino remembered. Back then, he still had not come to terms with his confused feelings for Aiba, and it had been the worst period of his life. Not that he ever told anyone about that.

"It was just too obvious, he was all about Jun this, Jun that...," the woman continued, remembering the time when she had a crush on Aiba too, like so many school girls their age back then.

"At least you had a date!" Nino shrugged, pouting slightly.

"Believe me, you don't want to date someone who's in love with someone else," the woman said, a slight hint of bitterness in her voice. She was glad to be over that phase, indeed, and thankful that she was so happy with her husband, Toma, now.

"I know," Nino replied. "Just saying. Anyway, how can he even stay in love with someone for so many years, without seeing or hearing from that person at all? How is that possible?"

"How is it possible to be in love with someone who they know exactly they don't have a chance with?" Yuriko gave back.

"I'm not in love with Masaki," Nino said, lowering his head, before adding in a low voice. "Not anymore..."

Carefully but determined, Yuriko pulled Nino's head slightly back into position.

"Then what's the problem? Matsumoto is back. Aiba-chan still loves him, happy ending."

Nino turned around so quickly that Yuriko's fingers accidentally slapped his nose, and with a frustrated sigh, she lowered her hands, temporarily giving up on her current project.

"You forget that Jun does not remember us! So much for their happy ending," the young man countered sarcastically.

"Well, I guess, sometimes people forget about their childhood," the young woman replied. "It's just that – childhood memories."

"For Masaki it is more than that!" Nino claimed.

"Yes, I know. And yes, maybe Matsumoto doesn't remember but," Yuriko shrugged her shoulders. "They can start something new, and maybe that's not so bad?"

Slightly shaking his head, Nino sighed. "You don't get my point."

"I do get it, but I think, you're overthinking this. You're worrying too much and you're stubborn like a mule," the woman continued, causing Nino's chin to drop. "I mean, look at Aiba-chan, he completely accepted the situation and embraced it as a new chance. In fact, you are the only one being sulky about this whole thing."

Enraged, Nino jumped up, ignoring the flower petals falling down on his shoulder. "Am I not allowed to be sulky? I'm worried, yes. Am I not allowed to be worried about my older brother?"

"I know you only want to protect Aiba-chan but don't you think he's old enough to take care of himself?" his friend asked, trying not to raise her voice too.

"I mean it, I'm really worried," the man continued, frustrated. "With their different starting points, they just can't get on the same level."

"But Aiba-chan is fine with the situation? And you know how adaptable he can be. It's much less complicated than you imagine."

"Being adaptable and pretending that everything is fine in order not to make the other person feel uncomfortable are two different pairs of shoes," Nino clarified, sending his friend a determined look. He knew what he was talking about, he spoke from experience, and not only personal one. "He may seem like he's dealing much better with it than he actually does. I was there... you didn't see him crying when he first met Jun again and that idiot didn't recognize him. It was heartbreaking..."

Yuriko looked at her friend, who was now pressing his fisted hands against his thighs, his whole body slightly trembling from the emotions. Slowly, she took a step forward to close the distance between her and Nino again, reaching her hands to put it on top of his shoulders.

"You were not there with him in that restaurant when he realized that Jun fulfilled his dream without him by his side," the man continued in a shaky voice. "You don't see him spacing out when he's doing the dishes or other routine work at the izakaya. He tries to hide it, but I know that he's worried and confused and that he's constantly thinking about the situation. About Jun…"

"It must have been a shock at first, yes, but... Look how happy he is now? Just the other day, he told me excitedly how glad he is that he and Matsumoto are friends again," the woman tried to soothe Nino. "Aiba-chan can handle this," Yuriko tried again, tightening the grip on Nino's shoulder. She smiled and then guided Nino to turn around and sit back down onto the stool to continue her unfinished work. "He's positive by nature and he's strong. Once he fully adjusted to the situation, it will be fine, you'll see."

"Yes, he's a positive fellow, he's like the sun, but still sometimes even Masaki worries, you know? He looks fine on the outside, but it's eating him on the inside. There are scars on his heart, I can see them."

"You're really being a bit over dramatic today, Nino," Yuriko sighed, even if she could understand what her friend was talking about.

The young man huffed, crossing his arms again. "Don't dare calling my worries about my best friend over dramatic!"

"Alright," the woman gave in. "Now sit still or I'm going to poke you with the flower stems."

"I think I can survive being poked by a flower stem," Nino replied, rolling his eyes while Yuriko finally resumed her work. "There are no thorns, after all."

"Smart ass," she chuckled. "Speaking about thorns, what about the yellow rose you got back then? Or more directly, the guy you got it from?"

"What about him?" Nino asked after a second of hesitation. He didn't expect the change of topic, and surely, he was not ready to talk about Sakurai and the confusion that man triggered in him.

"Do you like him back?" The woman asked in a sweet voice.

"Did I make the impression that I like him? You were there too," Nino replied, slightly unnerved, referring back to that evening in the izakaya where everyone was present when Jun and Sakurai entered there for the first time.

"And I saw you getting very loud and angry. Which usually, as you proved quite often already, is a sign that you are very much emotionally involved."

"Why is everyone holding that against me?!" Nino exclaimed. "And even if that's true, it doesn't mean I like that guy..."

Actually, Nino was glad that Yuriko could not see his face from her position. He could already feel his cheeks warming up.

"Maybe you should try. I mean, I heard he asked you out," Yuriko said and when Nino just hummed critically, she tried more. "Several times even, if I can believe what Aiba-chan told me! You said, you're not in love with Aiba-chan anymore, right? So what's holding you back?"

"Hm."

"Take the offer, give it a try, fall in love!" Yuriko said, cheerfully, leaning a bit forward and throwing her arms around Nino's neck for a small cuddle.

Nino didn't move, and he didn't reply. He was thinking. Everything that Yuriko just said was true, but still...

"Oh," the woman said. "Speaking about the devil..."

Nino stiffened when his eyes spotted who had just entered the flower shop. It was Jun, followed by Sakurai and just at the sight of the man his heart started beating faster suddenly. Nino held his breath for a moment. Why did those two have to show up here now at all times possible, anyway? He must be cursed.

"Oh... sorry, are we disturbing?" Jun asked, raising an eyebrow at the look of Yuriko and Nino, the woman quickly letting go off Nino, almost pushing the nearly finished flower wreath off Nino's head. Jun continued, "We're on break and thought we could come pick up the new flower decoration..."

"No no, please come in, come in, guys!" Yuriko chimed, clapping her hands before jumping to the side. "It's all done, just give me a second."

"I'm so sorry, Sho," Jun then murmured, while coming closer to the other. "I had no idea..."

"Ninomiya-san?" Sakurai asked, his eyes filled with hurt, while Nino was still trying to recover from his shock while figuring out the situation. "Are you and..."

Sho's eyes drifting away from Nino to the woman next to him and Jun even lifted his hand, pointing his finger between Nino and Yuriko, who was now busy with pulling out two trays filled with small glass jars decorated with ribbons and flowers, the new decoration for the restaurant's tables. She stopped her movement when she realized what was going on and by now, Nino had also caught up. He jumped up, but even before he had any idea in his head about what to say, Yuriko was already about to save the situation.

"Oh, no wait, I think, you're misunderstanding," she tried to set right. "I am certainly not cheating on my husband with Nino in case that’s what you are thinking! We're just friends!" When Sakurai frowned at her, critically, she continued, showing off her wedding ring. "I swear! I love Toma. Nino is like a brother to me!"

"Oh, I see...," Sakurai nodded, his smile returning and when Nino, whose flight instinct finally kicked in, tried to quickly pass him, he instinctively blocked his way, flashing that exact smile at the young man. "Stay, I didn't want to chase you away or anything. On the contrary, I'm happy to see you, how's it going?"

"I have to go," Nino insisted, ignoring the man's sweet words and trying to ignore the pleasant tone of his deep voice.

Again he tried to pass, but was held back by Jun's voice behind him...

"Are you telling me you're going out like this?" Jun asked and when Nino turned around, the taller man reached up with his hands and took off the flower wreath from the young man's head, leaving something behind that looked like a bird's nest made out of black hair.

"Oh," Nino murmured, trying to fix the mess.

"It suits you, though," Sakurai said with a charming smile on his full red lips. "Cute things fit cute people. I'd like you to wear one on our first date, what do you say?"

Nino said nothing and just looked at him, unable to react. They locked eyes for a few seconds, until the smaller man averted his eyes again and then proceeded to dash out of the shop without a word.

He didn't see how Sakurai continued looking after him, seemingly fighting with himself if he should follow him or not, or Jun turning towards Yuriko, placing the flower wreath on her head instead, telling her that it suited her even better, earning a sweet chuckle and a playful slap against the shoulder. Nino only knew that there was this strange feeling in his chest again, and that it was still confusing him. Or rather, he knew what its meaning might be, but he far wasn't ready yet, to accept it.


- - + - -

"This should be the last one," Aiba said while placing a box filled with ceramic bowls on top of the table lined with a simple white tablecloth in the area of the gallery they were setting up the buffet.

Almost everything was prepared, except from the mixed drinks. They brought tons of glasses, napkins, spoons and chopsticks and a huge pot of ramen soup was already placed on a hotplate, simmering and ready to be served. Still stronger though, than the smell of Aiba's special soup, was the smell of fresh paint coming through the open door of the atelier at the back, in which Ohno was still working. Probably, he would do so even when in about an hour the first visitors of his new exhibition would arrive, Aiba assumed.

It was an interesting and very alluring idea, to have the chance to see an artist in action. But he wasn't here for his own entertainment, he was here for work, as Ohno had begged him to take care of the catering for the evening, and Aiba of course had happily agreed. Now, while his parents were taking over the shift in the izakaya, Aiba had brought Nino with him as his helping hand.

Speaking about Nino…

When Aiba realized that he missed a certain presence next to him, he turned around, wondering where he could have lost his friend along the short way from the izakaya to the gallery. Immediately, he spotted the young man, still carrying two boxes of precooked ramen noodle that he had pushed into his hands, standing in front of a huge canvas hanging on the wall Aiba had just passed. Nino's head was slightly tilted, there was a frown on his face and he was obviously drawn to the picture of abstractly arranged colours. He was already intrigued by that painting the first and second time they carried stuff here just a few minutes ago. However, now it seemed Aiba had finally lost his friend to it, completely.

"What's wrong?" he asked, while carefully taking the boxes from his friend's hands to make sure they would eventually arrive at their destination. When he didn't receive any reply, Aiba slightly nudged the other man's shoulder. "Nino?"

"I appreciate art and this is really beautiful, don't get me wrong," the younger man replied after a few more seconds, slowly, reflectively, "But sometimes I really don't understand it. I mean, it's so much easier to interpret a whole movie than one of Ohno-san's paintings..."

Aiba tilted his head the same way Nino did, trying to see the art piece through his friend's eyes, and he could only agree. He had no idea what the painting should portray, but he found the colour scheme beautiful nonetheless.

"I guess that's what fascinates people so much about his work, isn't it?" he noted.

"Probably...," Nino hummed before he was pulled out of his thoughts by Aiba again.

"Anyway, our job today is not to appreciate art, but to make sure Ohno-san's admirers have enough to eat and drink, so come on and help me set up the buffet," the man said enthusiastically. "And aren't you supposed to film the whole event in between, anyway? You can use the time then to catch each picture on camera and muse about the different pieces. I'm sure Ohno-san will like that."

"Just one more minute...," Nino replied, as if trying to figure out the meaning behind the colourful mess on the canvas was his life's top priority right now, not minding how Aiba was trying to push him towards the buffet with the boxes he was still carrying.

"Whatever."

Aiba gave up in order to finally place the ramen noodle boxes where they belonged. However, when the door to the gallery opened once more, hewas the one being completely distracted by the sight of the people entering. Well, especially by the sight of one of the people entering, his chest felt warming up.

"Jun, Sho-kun! There you are!"

Excited, Aiba waved his hands to greet the two men, who had become his close friends. Aiba was happy that he and Jun were getting along so well and that he was allowed to call Jun by his first name again, like he used to do. He had to admit that it had just happened one day when he called him Jun instead of Matsumoto, but luckily, Jun let it slip. Of course, Sho had offered Aiba to call him by his given name too, as he claimed that Jun's friends would be his, as well, and Aiba very much appreciated that. 

"OK… I'm off to prepare the drinks," suddenly, Nino seemed to be back in the present time and space.

He quickly turned around before even making any efforts to greet the newcomers as well, especially not in as familiar way as Aiba. Sho did not only offer Aiba to call him by his first name, but also Nino, who, of course, had coldly refused and still insisted on calling the man Sakurai-san. He was not ready to take this next step yet, obviously, but soon, he would be, Aiba was convinced by that. At least, Nino didn't give the impression of wanting to kill Sho for calling him Ninomiya-kun, instead of Ninomiya-san, anymore.

Of course, it was too late, though. Faster than appreciated, Sho was already standing in front of Nino, flashing him his usual charming smile.

"Ninomiya-kun! How nice to see you," the man said in an alluring voice. "May I say how well you fit in here? A beautiful human being among beautiful art… is art by himself."

With that, Nino's face added a completely different shade of red to the colour spectrum of the whole setting (Aiba would give the picture the title "The Red of Embarrassment"), Jun could be heard releasing a small frustrated sigh while covering his forehead, and Aiba almost lost it at the funny compliment although he tried hard not to laugh. He knew, this probably would not lead Sho to his goal, but Aiba was excited to see how funny and cute at the same time Nino's – hopefully – future boyfriend was, once again. He felt a little guilty for his thought, but Aiba was convinced that Sho's special flirting attempts would never get boring.

"Uhm… I'm very sorry, but I don't have time to chat right now, I have to work," Nino tried to be polite while pressing that he needed to get away.

"No need to be so stressed, the guests haven’t even arrive yet," Aiba jumped in. Yes, he might have tried to urge Nino to help him just before, but siding with Sho was more important now. He wouldn't make it too easy for his friend to flee and he knew he could count on Sho too.

"You know what? I'll help you with the drinks," the man offered with a smile before he quickly turning back to the other two men. "That's OK, isn't it, Jun? Aiba-kun?"

"Sure, that would be very helpful," Aiba grinned broadly. He looked at Jun, who smiled at him. "I'll... help Jun instead. We're all here to work together after all."

"Someone save me," Nino murmured, finally turning around for real, aiming for a small area farther in the back of the gallery, where he and Aiba had stored the beverage and other ingredients for drinks.

"You look pale, Ninomiya-kun," Sho noted, sounding a bit worried, as he followed him and when hearing that Aiba followed along, quickly excusing himself from Jun, who said he'd go get some more stuff. "Would you like to sit down for a bit? Shall I bring you a glass of water?"

"Oh, a glass of water would be very nice," Nino answered, surprisingly flashing the other man a cheerful smile. Aiba frowned critically.

"Wait a second, I'll be right back."

Sho, happy to help, enthusiastically turned on his heel and when Nino wanted to do the same, just heading into the opposite direction, Aiba understood what was going on. Quickly, he leaped forward and caught Nino at his shirt, slightly pulling him back.

"And you wait a second, too!" the man said in a strict voice. "Don't you even think about running away from him."

"But -" Nino wanted to protest, but Aiba pushed him towards a nearby chair, hands on his friend's shoulders, pressed him down.

"Sit down instead. Did you drink enough since your coffee in the morning? You really look a bit pale..."

"Because I'm shocked!" the younger man hissed, glaring at his friend and ignoring the side blow about his non-drinking habits. "You didn't tell me they are coming here too! Are we doing the catering or not?!"

"It's not my fault," Aiba immediately defended himself, trying his best to look innocent. "When Ohno-san asked us to do the catering he insisted on us working together with them because he wanted – I quote – the most delicious ramen and the most creative sushi in town."

He wasn't lying there, although he had to admit that it was indeed his fault that Nino stayed uninformed about the exact situation. He was not present when just a few weeks ago, Ohno asked Aiba if he and Nino would be able to contribute their service to his new exhibition. Apparently, Ishihara planned to invite some renowned art connoisseurs on the opening day of the exhibition, as well as all people from the neighbourhood who were interested in checking out the artist's new work. Since she was too busy with sending out invitations, she allowed Ohno to take care of the catering service, much to his delight, as he was free to choose from his favourite places. Of course, his choice were the izakaya, as well as Jun and Sho's restaurant. It was an interesting mix, but not even Ishihara dared criticize Ohno's choice, and so, it turned out like this.

"You could have told me," Nino pouted.

"You would have pretended to be busy," Aiba countered, raising an eyebrow. "Am I right?"

Nino sighed. "You know me too well."

"I really need your help and it's fun to spend time altogether," Aiba continued, placing his hands on his hips. "They are really nice guys, you should know that by now. I really don't see your problem."

"Never mind," his friend replied.

Still, Nino pouted, slightly, and Aiba kept frowning. He had hoped with Jun and Sho being around longer that Nino would finally get used to the situation, but still he seemed to have trouble accepting everything. It was a little complicated, maybe, but Aiba was convinced that these complications could be bridged. He managed to overcome his initial small doubts in no time too, and he managed to befriend both, Jun and Sho. Why couldn't Nino too? Hopefully, the only thing he needed was just a little more time.

"Here we go, Ninomiya-kun," Sho was right back next to them, holding a glass of water. Nino just took it, taking a sip.

"Nino?" Aiba arched an eyebrow at him. Where had his manners gone?

"Thank you," Nino then murmured into the glass, quickly glancing at Sho, before he focused on drinking again. The other man just nodded, smiling happily.

"Alright, now drink up and then I'll leave you two guys with the welcome drinks, while I'm going to help Jun, OK?" Aiba wanted to confirm and after receiving the same from two nodding heads, he showed them his thumbs up and went back to the front of the gallery, just in time to open the door for Jun who returned with his hands full.

"Thanks," Jun smiled, when Aiba offered his help and they quickly carried his stuff towards the buffet area.

"Is your famous sushi in there?" Aiba asked, excited. But when Jun started to unpack, what appeared were only several large white plates which would display said sushi.

"The food is still in the restaurant," Jun explained while setting up the plates, thoughtfully. "I'm sorry, I hope I'm not occupying too much space on the table?"

Aiba waved his hand. "Don't worry, since we're going to serve the ramen freshly, we don't need much space for the bowls. Spread out as much as you need."

"Great," the other man replied. "Now... I might need your help to get all the sushi here, if you don't mind?"

Of course, Aiba didn't mind, and so he gladly followed Jun outside again, accompanying him to walk down the street to the restaurant and pick up the already prepared stuff.

It was unusual to enter the restaurant when it was completely empty, Aiba noted, as normally when he passed the restaurant or came in to say hello, it was filled with guests. Today, though, the atmosphere was peaceful and quiet. Jun allowed him to step in the kitchen area, where Aiba spotted several trays neatly packed with different kinds of sushi. Nigiri, maki, even some of those American type inside-out rolls that seemed to be super popular overseas. Aiba's eyes almost popped out when he saw all the creative and colourful toppings.

There was the already well-known "watermelon"-sushi made from cucumber, tuna and black sesame, but also a selection of other types of decorations. The gunnel sushi was decorated with tiny little stencils of nori and stripes of cucumber, making it look like pandas holding on to bamboo, the egg omelet topping was shaped like bananas, and the sushi rolls rather looked like cute tiny little flower vases decorated with leaves made out of avocado and cucumber, and flowers rolled from thin salmon slices and pickled pumpkin. All different from the typical sushi rolls.

"Oh my gosh, they are so cute!" Aiba exclaimed.

He couldn't believe it! He had seen the watermelon look-a-like sushi before, but the pandas were new, and he loved them! His heart skipped a beat when he realized that it was the man he loved who created them. It made them even more precious, and it made Aiba feel very proud. When he then looked at Jun, he could see a tint of red on the man's cheeks, who was seemingly happy about the compliment.

"These flower sushi are new creations, and I upgraded the pandas with the cucumber bamboo," Jun started, and he even continued explaining a little how he managed to shape everything in the best way. "Do you want to try one?" he then suddenly offered, surprising Aiba.

"Yes, please, if I may? These look almost too cute to be eaten...," the man replied, his eyes shining.

"Thank you, I take this as a compliment, but they are meant to be eaten so please," Jun smiled. He quickly washed his hands at the sink next to him and then reached for one of the super adorable panda sushi, turning back towards Aiba, holding the small piece of decorated rice. "Have one of these."

The moment Aiba lifted his own hands to take the offered piece of food from the other man and parted his lips wanting to thank Jun, the latter was so close to him that without thinking further, he playfully pushed the nigiri sushi directly into Aiba's mouth. Their eyes met, and the tips of Jun's fingers touched Aiba's soft, warm lips, causing both of them to gasp silently. The two men froze for a moment, when they realized what just happened, and while Jun – with... was that a slight blush on his face? - took a few steps backwards to bring back the distance between them, Aiba hid his face behind his hands, trying to keep his composure and start chewing on the sushi before his clouded brain could cause his muscles to forget how to move. All awkwardness then was instantly forgotten as soon as the flavour spread in his mouth. He pressed his hands harder over his mouth, in order to mute a satisfied sigh triggered by the delicious taste. He took his time to finish, savouring every bite, before he dared looking back at Jun.

"Sorry, uhm...," Jun stammered, quickly avoiding his eyes again.

"Delicious...," was everything, Aiba could voice.

"Thanks," Jun chuckled in return, still not looking at the other man.

Then, pretending that nothing had happened, they both reached out for a sushi tray – the same one, apparently, as their hands accidentally touched and they both backed off again. Aiba couldn't help but giggle, trying to hold back the silly bubbling of happiness and excitement inside him.

"OK, let me carry that one," the man then said, taking the first tray, leaving the other to Jun. "Let's go display your masterpieces where everybody can see and enjoy them!"

Of course, none of them said anything about the accidental feeding incident, as Aiba filed it in his memories, and instead, they quickly moved from the restaurant to Ohno's gallery in order to divide all the cute looking sushi pieces onto the plates Jun had prepared just before. Once in a while, the two men would exchange looks, smiling at each other while continuing their task, and if Aiba had his way, he could continue this for hours. However, the opening of the exhibition was approaching and so the preparations had to progress too.

Sho and Nino apparently had mixed the welcome drinks, as planned, and now seemed to be debating over whether it would be better to serve the drinks directly at the entrance whenever someone enter, or set up two high tables near the entrance area to let people freely choose whether to get something to drink or not. To Nino's distress though, this seemed not to be the only conversation topic Sho had come up with, as Aiba noted, feeling amused when he heard the two men chatting at the back.

"By the way, have you already chosen a movie that the four of us could go watch?" Sho asked after he and Nino compromised that they would set up tables near the entrance area, but that Sho would also walk around with a tray filled with drinks, offering them manually, while Nino took care of the camera and film the gallery's guests, as Ohno requested.

"That's not really important to decide now, is it?" Nino asked when he passed Aiba, carrying one of the high tables.

Sho quickly caught up, insisting on helping the young man, and ignored his objection. "We should be able to make it for the late-night screening if we don't take reservations after nine in the restaurant..."

"Can you even afford that?" Nino asked.

"I calculated everything through," Sho replied, determined. "It's legit to close up a bit earlier once in a while and Aiba-kun said that his parents agreed to take over the late shift for you guys. Right, Aiba-kun? Jun?" Sho asked into the room, without turning around, knowing that the two could hear them.

When both, Aiba and Jun gave their approval, Nino sighed.

"You're too well informed."

"Just let me know the movie you're interested in, and I'll make the reservation," Sho insisted.

"I'm still thinking about it," Nino added. The two of them placed the table at its destined place, pushing it a bit back and forth, until they were both satisfied with its position before returning to the buffet, together.

"Oh wow, this looks amazing!" Sho exclaimed, as if it was the first time he saw Jun's sushi creations. When he wanted to reach out to steal one piece of sushi off a plate, Jun flashed him a strict look and slightly slapped away his friend's hand.

"Our ramen looks quite boring instead...," Nino murmured with crossed arms.

He eyed the simple ramen pot in the corner of the buffet table, only some samples of ceramic bowls placed in front of it and the boxes with the pre-cooked noodles stored next to the pot. Indeed, compared to Jun's fabulous sushi presentation, the ramen section rather looked like a do-it-yourself area, quite unimpressive.

"You think so?" Aiba asked, stepping back a little from the buffet, to see the whole picture.

"Ah, right, that reminds me on something!" Jun then said, turning to one of the boxes he brought before and pulling out a plastic box. He opened it in front of Aiba and Nino, revealing lots of beautifully roses carved from carrots and cucumber. He pushed the box right into Aiba's hands, causing him to look back at him, puzzled. "I mean, if you guys want, you can have some of those for decorating the ramen bowls, I only wanted to put a few of them as decoration on the sushi plates but looking at it, it might be a bit too much... and I think I made too many of them, anyway."

"Are you serious?!" Aiba almost freaked out from excitement. He might not need fancy decoration for his ramen, but he would take it if someone offered it to him, especially when that someone was Jun. "They are too beautiful!"

"Of course, I'm serious," Jun replied after clearing his throat. "We're here to work together after all, aren't we?" When Aiba smiled at him from one ear to the other, Jun turned around once more, searching for another box. "Uhm... and here, if you add just a few of these on top, it will pop just by that."

Curiously, Aiba looked into the box when Jun revealed a bunch of about 20 cm long stripes of purple edible paper. "True! That's really impressive!"

When Aiba couldn't resist picking one of the stripes to try it, Jun chuckled. "Hey, don't eat it by yourself!"

"I'm sorry," Aiba replied with a broad smile but quickly pushed it into his mouth, anyway, munching it away. "Hm, I just... I wanted to see if you can really eat it! Wow..."

"It's just a mix of salt, water, flour and food colouring, of course you can eat it," Jun explained.

"Amazing," the other man had to admit. "I would never think of something like that."

Jun scratched the back of his neck. "It's a trick I learned in Paris, actually."

"Fancy shmancy," Nino murmured, rolling his eyes, before leaving the scene to start bringing the already prepared drinks from the back to the front table he and Sho had just set up. Of course, Sho was following him on the heel.

Aiba giggled, and when Jun gave him an empty spare plate, he zealously started arranging the vegetable flowers and edible paper on it, placing it in front of the sample of ramen bowls.

"Looks way better!" he stated, excitedly, flashing Jun a grateful smile when he turned to look at him.

The young man though, after returning the smile, quickly changed the topic. "Say, Nino doesn't want to go to the movies with us, does he?"

"Hm...," Aiba hummed.

"Why not? What's his problem?" Jun continued. "Sho is really nice to him, he even said he'll pay for his ticket and popcorn."

"I think, he's still too shy," Aiba replied with an apologetic expression.

"But... he also avoids me, not only Sho, am I right?" Jun added, to Aiba's surprise.

He couldn't even deny the other chef's statement right away, but looking at him, he also understood that pretending wouldn't make Jun believe him. Instead, he went for the honest reaction. "I'm sorry. I'll talk to him again, OK?"

"Is it my fault?" Jun then suddenly murmured after a second of silence. He proceeded to polish the edges of some of the plates on the table with a dish towel, but Aiba could guess that the young man was simply trying to keep himself busy. "He doesn’t want to come along because he hates me that much?"

"He doesn't hate you, Jun...," Aiba then said. Honestly, he wasn't surprised over Jun's question, but he had really hoped that Jun hadn't noticed anything like that.

"He does," the other man gave back. "And that's really inconvenient."

"What do you mean?" Aiba frowned.

Still, Jun didn't dare to look at Aiba, but there was a cute tiny little pout on his lips. "Well, if someone's best friend doesn't approve of one, it's a bit hard to -"

Unfortunately, Jun wasn't able to finish his sentence, as Ishihara showed up, completely exhausted from taking care of some last organizational things, one ear on the phone, a stack of business cards with Ohno's name on it in her free hand, and still, she called out for the two men.

"Matsumoto-san, Aiba-kun!" flashing them a smile, which seemed to be accompanied by a mixture of stress, slight desperation and happiness, she thanked them between her phone call and welcoming the first guest that just showed up at the entrance and received a drink from Sho, for coming and setting up everything.

The two chefs just smiled at her, and she was gone again, but so was that moment between them, Aiba didn't know how else he should describe it. What did Jun want to say just before they got interrupted? He was dying to ask the young man, however, Jun was already busy, picking up one of the filled sushi plates and ready to go.

"Probably, it's best if you stay here in case people want ramen, so you can prepare it for them," the young man said, smiling. He pointed towards the door, where slowly but surely more and more people appeared. "I'll go make some rounds with the sushi plates, but no worries, I'll tell people to come here if they want something warm."

"Thanks, Jun," Aiba replied, and then, Jun was gone.

From where he was, Aiba had a good view over the whole scene. More guests were coming, some of them were familiar faces, people from the neighbourhood, but there were also people, Aiba had never seen before. Maybe, those where Ohno's admirers from all over Japan, probably, also his patrons. Some of those people stood out because they were dressed completely different from the rest of the audience, others didn't. But there was one thing, all of them had in common. They were here to enjoy and appreciate the artist's work, and this certainty made Aiba feel really happy for Ohno, and even a bit proud.

About fifteen minutes after the official opening of the exhibition, Ishihara took it upon herself to give a little speech, thanking everyone for coming, and announced proudly that Ohno was still working on a new piece of art and that his atelier in the back was open for anyone who wanted to take a look at the working process. The audience nodded, appreciating the opportunity, and then spread out, either to check on the artist, or to take a walk around the gallery to appreciate the displayed art pieces.

Nino started to record the event with a handheld camera and was walking around, alternating places and catching not only the several of the paintings on film but also a few spoken words by some guests, congratulating the artist on his new achievements. Sho and Jun were also walking around, offering drinks and sushi to the visitors, while some people took care to get their own stuff at the buffet. Especially the people from the neighbourhood seemed to develop an interest in Aiba and his ramen, ordering servings and standing there, waiting patiently while Aiba arranged the noodles, the hot soup and Jun's cute decorations, and used the time chatting to him.

Some elderly people who Aiba knew just too well from their regular visits to the izakaya, examined the sushi plates right next to Aiba's "ramen station", frowning at them, obviously not convinced by the "artsy stuff", as they called it.

"So what is that over there supposed to be?" one of the men asked, eyeing the sushi suspiciously from the side.

"That's the stuff that handsome man from that new restaurant made, isn't it?" his wife, an elderly woman with a white hairdo and red painted lips asked Aiba. "It looks kind of cute, doesn't it? Especially the ones with the panda!"

Aiba grinned while nodding towards the woman. There was no chance that Jun's adorable sushi would fail to impress a lady.

"It doesn't look like food, at all," her husband replied, raising an eyebrow.

"But it tastes really good!" Aiba chimed in. "And if you want to know the exact ingredients, I suggest you go find the creator and ask him for details. He'll be pleased to tell you more about his creations."

"Is that so?"

"You should definitely give it a try!"

"Well, if Aiba-kun says so, it can't be that bad," the critical man replied, before he lovingly touched his wife at the elbow and pushed her into Jun's direction, who at the moment was standing near the entrance, smiling to each and every person passing him.

Aiba couldn't suppress a giggle when he saw the couple talking to the young chef, the lady soon reaching at a piece of sushi on the plate Jun was offering her, while her husband still alternated his critical look between the sushi and Jun, before he finally gave in and tried some himself. Aiba couldn't hear their conversation over the noises filling the room, but judging from the smile on Jun's face, the taste test seemed to be a success. After a while, all of the welcome drinks were served and Sho started to switch out the empty glasses standing on the high table near the entrance with freshly filled glasses of wine, water and other drinks before retreating to the back and accompanying Aiba for a while (and have a bowl of ramen, obviously). Jun had just come to pick up two more plates of sushi, flashing them a happy smile over their success, before returning to serve the appetizers to the gallery's guests.

"I think, Ninomiya-kun is fleeing from me... again," Sho started randomly while slurping the noodles and praising its taste.

"I guess, he's just walking around filming, don't worry about it so much, Sho-kun," Aiba replied, but even from his observation, indeed there was the impression that Nino had purposely moving away whenever Sho came close to him. If it wasn't so serious for Sho, Aiba would have found the ongoing cat and mouse play between the two men even a bit funny.

"Probably," the man replied, at least, he had not reached the point of giving up hope.

"You're serious about him, aren't you?" Aiba asked after a small pause.

"Of course! I'm always serious!" By now, Sho had finished his bowl of ramen and placed it into a small box filled with other used dishes, which he promised Aiba to take into the back and wash up. "He doesn't seem to believe me, though."

Humming, Aiba nodded, before he dared asking, "Say, did you ever have any success with people with your flirting tactic in the past?"

"From time to time?" Sho shrugged, wondering about the strange question, but if Aiba believed any of Jun's stories about Sho, the latter wasn't so sure about that.

"If I may give you some advice...," the man started, carefully, Sho's eyes immediately glued to him. "Maybe you should try a... less flirty approach? Even if it may sound counterproductive to your ears, but I really think Nino is rather a secret romantic, if you know what I mean. He likes it subtle. And sometimes, he is easily irritated."

"Thanks for the advice, I'll keep it in mind," Sho said, nodding gratefully towards Aiba. "I figured indeed that he's easily... irritated. Although I think it's part of his charm. He's very irritated by Jun though, obviously," the man continued, searching for Aiba's eyes. "And I was wondering if it has something to do with you..."

"Oh!" Just after a second, Aiba caught up on Sho's train of thoughts, and immediately, he knew he had to set some things right. "Don't worry, he's just a bit overprotective when it comes to me. We grew up together, but I swear, there's nothing between us, if you are hinting on something like that."

Sho lifted a critical eyebrow. "Are you sure? Sometimes, when you and Jun are talking, I think Nino's a bit jealous," he added, a somewhat sad smile on his lips.

"I swear, we're like brothers!" Aiba confirmed. "Nino is just irritated because Jun apparently forgot about us..."

Sho nodded, and there was another pause in their conversation, until Sho restarted it.

"About Jun... there's something I wanted to tell you guys ever since we came here," he said, earning a confused look from the other man. "In fact, Jun thinks it isn't important, but I think, it is, and that it's time you and Ninomiya understand something. It's not Jun's fault that he forgot."

"What exactly do you mean?" Aiba frowned.

"Truth is, when I met Jun, I found out that he lost parts of his memory due to an accident," Sho started, causing Aiba to frown at him.

"Due to an accident?" the man asked, frowning even more. This was the first time Aiba ever heard about that.

"Apparently, some years ago, he and his parents got involved in a car accident. A severe injury of his head made him suffer from partial amnesia. The outer wounds healed completely, but it seems, he has forgotten big parts of his childhood," Sho kept on, while Aiba could only stare at him in disbelief. "He even had to re-study certain things from school, he really didn't have it easy. And that is also the reason why he can't remember you and Ninomiya-kun."

"I never heard about him having an accident...," Aiba voiced his thoughts from before, still trying to process what Sho just had told him. His heart constricted when his brain ran wild with images of Jun, hurt and feeling lost. "That must have been a horrible time for him..."

"Jun said he lost all of his contacts because his phone was crushed, and the data was lost," Sho continued explaining.

Aiba's eyes widened. "So that's why he suddenly stopped being in contact with us!"

"That's what I think," the other man nodded. "I am convinced if he was able to kind of guess the extent of what he really lost and if he was able to, he might have given a chance to call a few old friends to catch up and everything. But in his case, everything was lost at once and he had no idea where to start and what to do. So after much consideration, he decided to accept the situation and start anew."

Falling back into thinking, Aiba hummed, acknowledging Sho's input. The thought of Jun having experienced an accident was still terrible, and Aiba certainly wished that it didn’t happen for Jun's sake, however, suddenly, there was another thought that sneaked into Aiba's mind.

If Jun had an accident and lost his memory as well as his phone's data, this meant that it was probably not Aiba's fault that Jun couldn't remember him. Aiba had wondered all the time, if he had had such little impact on Jun's life during their childhood that their friendship was just stored away in a little dusty corner of Jun's heart, not worth being cared for. But this new piece of information put everything into a whole different light.

Jun had not forgotten his old friends Aiba and Nino on purpose. It just happened. It was an accident, no one was to blame for it, and suddenly Aiba felt kind of strangely relieved that there was actually a reason behind Jun not remembering him, that none of them had any influence on.

"Why didn't he mention that?" Aiba wondered. "Jun and I have spent so much time together now, we've become friends and we get along so well... even if he can't remember, he should try to explain the situation, no?"

"Jun uses to say that since he can't remember what he lost, he doesn't miss it and he seems to have accepted the situation just the way it is," Sho continued. "Probably, he believes that this is how everyone should handle the situation, so he doesn't want to create a fuss about all that."

Aiba hummed, thoughtfully. "You don't miss what you don't know you lost. Right? Why make a big deal out of it..."

"Exactly his words. Still, I kind of want him to remember. Because he always feels as if he's missing something. I can't help but wonder if Jun would be more cheerful if he remembered his past – even if thanks to you he seems to be quite happy recently," Sho added, causing Aiba's heart to jump a little from happiness. "However... I don't know but he's still kind of..." Sho frowned, searching for the right words.

"Incomplete?" Aiba offered, without having to think hard.

He really appreciated the new bond that was forming between him and Jun throughout the past weeks. He loved Jun still, and had fallen for him all over again. However, it still felt like something was missing. Aiba wondered, if he would be able to see the situation the same way Jun did. If he happened to forget his past, would he be able to let go? All those precious memories, those happy moments... Aiba couldn't even imagine how it must feel like to have such things cut out of his mind, all of the sudden. Would he miss them, and would he try to find back his memories? Or would he accept the situation just the way Jun seemed to do?

"That's why I wanted us to open up our restaurant here," Sho continued explaining. "I want him to remember! I want him to become completeagain. The doctors said, they can't predict if Jun's memory will ever restore completely, and Jun says, he doesn't care, but I do. Is that strange?"

Aiba shook his head. He didn't find it strange. He could understand Sho's way of thinking. He was worried for Jun and wanted him to find back his memories, which of course, were an essential part of every person's life. But was it really necessary?

"Don't get me wrong," Sho continued. "I don't want to pressure him. But I thought that with the familiar environment, with people he knows from his past, that might trigger something. If not, then that's that, but if it works, I'd be happy."

"No matter if he remembers or not... I'm glad you brought him back here," Aiba added with a smile on his face. "Thank you."

Sho chuckled. "No no, please let me thank you!"

The other man frowned. "What for?"

"That despite everything, you accept Jun the way he is, now," Sho smiled. "And that you don't push anything on him. In this aspect, you're even better than I am, although it must be so hard for you... I know you and Ninomiya-kun were friends with Jun way before I stepped into his life. You know things about him that I can't even imagine and most likely will never find out. It's like, although we know the same person, we don't know the same Jun."

"And still, it is Jun, all along, isn't it? All of him," Aiba said and Sho nodded.

"So that's what happened."

The two men whirled around, surprised to find Nino standing right behind them, holding his camera by his side, apparently not filming at the moment. The young man frowned, guiding a sympathetic look at Aiba.

"And I thought he's just the biggest jerk on earth for forgetting his childhood friends... we went through a lot together, after all... but he...," Nino sighed, lifting his free hand to rub it over his face. "I really feel bad now. I am the real jerk here, blaming him for things that he's not to blame for."

"You know," Sho cleared his throat after a short silence between them. He even took the chance and moved a bit closer to Nino, slowly trying to reach his arm around the young man. "If you feel bad I can make you feel better, what about finally accepting my invitation?"

"Thanks, I'm not feeling that bad," Nino replied, finding back his composure and immediately moving away from the other man, even before he could touch him properly. "If you please excuse me now, I have some more filming to do. Please make sure, our guests have enough to drink, Sakurai-san."

"I will ask you again, later," Sho concluded from this, grinning at the other man, who slightly blushed.

"Back to work now, shoosh!" Nino then replied strictly, before leaving the other two men behind again, walking up to Ishihara, probably to consult her about what else he should catch on film.

Even if Aiba truly felt sorry for Sho being dumped right away for the umpteenth time, he couldn't help but chuckled, amused by the two men's continuing tag play. At least, the mood was back to normal now.

"What did I say about subtle flirting?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at Sho.

"Serves me right," Sho shrugged. "It's a shame though, I didn't even manage to sneak my number into his pockets," he added, showing a small piece of paper to Aiba. "Maybe next time."

"You're carrying this with you the whole time?"

"Of course! Never be unprepared," Sho replied, grinning and fisting his hand.

Aiba laughed again, before he reached out to pat Sho's shoulder. "It'll be fine. I'm sure, it will!"

The other man smiled back at Aiba, grateful for his support, before he turned and went to check if any drinks needed refills, just as Nino had instructed him. Alone again, Aiba let his eyes take in his surroundings, happily noting that the whole event seemed to be a big success. He smiled. In the meantime, Ohno had come out from his atelier, still wearing his white overall, covered with paint, smears on his face, and his hair standing on edge while he walked around thanking the visitors of the exhibition for coming. Of course, Ishihara tried to scold him subtlety for his appearance, and to persuade him to change into a different set of clothes (which she had gotten tailored just for this event, after all!) but Aiba knew that as carefree as Ohno was, he couldn't care less.

After a short interruption in form of a small group of art critics asking Aiba for a bowl of his delicious smelling ramen, the young man fell back into observing mode and eventually, he got stuck with watching Jun. The young chef was still surrounded by people, and happily chatting with them – most likely about the process of how he managed to assemble those super cute pandas on top of a small portion of rice. Aiba's face got stuck with a smile, witnessing the man who always made his heart pound faster.

Aiba felt like he was caught staring, when Jun suddenly looked into his direction, pointing at him, while talking to one of the gallery's female visitors, who then turned to look at Aiba too. Aiba had no idea what the conversation was about, over the sounds of conversations of the crowd, it was hard to pick out specific voices, but when the guest approached him and asked him for a bowl of ramen, Aiba figured what was going on.

"That handsome man back there said that the handsome man over here serves the best ramen in town," the slightly elderly woman said, showing Aiba a wide grin, who happily reached out to prepare some ramen for her.

The woman complimented the rich taste of the soup once she tried it, and Aiba smiled happily, first at her, and then at Jun, who now was the one staring to see if his recommendation worked out. When their eyes met, Aiba's heart jolted. The sweet smile he earned from Jun in return made him feel all fuzzy, and he felt the urge to run up to the man and hug him for his cuteness. Too bad, they needed to stay professional right now.

After looking at each other for what felt like an eternity, in the end, Jun averted his eyes, when someone talked to him, and the moment was over. But the warm feeling in Aiba stayed, as he smiled to himself.

He was a little bit confused after the conversation with Sho, but in the end, nothing had changed. He still loved Jun, no matter if and why Jun had forgotten about him. It wasn't really important whether there was a chance for Jun to find back his memory, or not. In the end, it didn't change anything about Aiba's feelings for Jun. Maybe, one day, he would remember. And if not, Aiba would accept that too.

In the end, it didn't matter. One way or the other, Aiba was sure, everything would be fine.

- - + - -

Part Two