ive had this idea for soo long omg...
also, i suck at titles haha
many many thanks for my awesome friend abby (narutorun on tumblr) for amazing beta!
He's watching Haru write the day's specials on the chalkboard when a truck comes to a rolling stop right behind Tokyo Takyo. Nagisa tears his eyes away from Haru's tiny, even script (how can he write so small when the chalk is so thick?) to stare. The new truck is a creamy yellow, broken only by lacy pink detailing that swirls along the edge of the vehicle. A girl, probably around Nagisa's age, opens the window and reaches up, tugging at something—Nagisa squints—and a blue and white striped awning falls over the opening and counter. It is, without a doubt, the absolute cutest food truck Nagisa has ever seen.
"Belles Crepes?" reads Haru, dusting off chalk from his hands. Light powder poofs into the air between them.
"It's French," says Nagisa, who took one world language elective when he was a freshman.
"What does it mean?" says Haru, who knows exactly how full of shit he is. Nagisa doesn't answer him, turning away from Haru's private grin to watch the girl struggle with the awning. It's creased up at the bottom, refusing to smooth out, and she's too short to reach the end and yank it down.
"Rei," she calls, right as Nagisa moves to offer help. "Rei, come out here and help me."
"What's wrong?" a voice says, hidden inside the shadow behind the counter. Nagisa pauses.
"The canopy's stuck," she replies, blowing out a frustrated breath, red strands so deep Nagisa thinks they might be burgundy floating away from her face.
"Coming," says the voice, and the back door opens.
The sun glints off crimson frames, bright, so vivid Nagisa thinks he might go blind. He stares, thankfully hidden in the shadow of Tokyo Takyo, as a young man in a small pink apron, a delicate white cap nestled over stylish bangs, strides to where the cloth has folded up and fixes it with a deft pull. Nagisa can see the cords of his arm from where he's standing, shifting under bronze, skin glimmering in the early summer light.
Nagisa stares.
"Thanks," the girl says, and they exchange smiles. Nagisa catches his eye when the guy turns and the gentle look slides off, replaced with a solemn mask. He jerks his head, curt, to Nagisa and disappears back inside the truck, the crisp lines of his slacks fluttering at the edges.
"Help me set up," says Haru, suddenly right beside him, and Nagisa follows him inside.
break
"What do you think?" Haru's holding out a plate of six perfectly round, steaming takoyaki. "I tried using a couple different cheese fillings instead, for vegetarian customers."
"Gorgeous," Nagisa breathes, thinking of navy flips and red rims.
"You think so?" Haru pops one in his mouth. "Ahh, hot."
"Haru-chan!" says Nagisa. "Isn't it so exciting to have another food truck on this street? I hope we can make friends with them!"
"Exciting?" Haru echoes. "What about the customers?"
Nagisa cocks his head. "What about the customers?"
"Another truck means competition for customers," says Haru. "Makoto taught me that." Mako is Haru's...well. They call each other "best friends", but Nagisa thinks he knows a little better. Mako and Haru are the ones who own Tokyo Takyo, but Mako handles the business aspects and doesn't accompany them during the lunch shift, while Haru cooks all the food. Nagisa himself handles the customers, orders, and money.
"Competition?" Nagisa didn't think of that. "I'm sure we'll be fine, Haru-chan, there are tons and tons of people who walk on these streets every day!" He glances uncertainly out the window. "We sell takoyaki and they sell crepes, so I don't think it will be a big deal."
break
It is a big deal. It is totally and completely a bigger deal than Nagisa imagined.
People flock toward Belles Crepes, a name that sounds more and more ridiculous every time Nagisa hears someone struggle through the pronunciation. "Beautiful Crepes" is what they translate to, which strikes him as boring and unoriginal—at least their truck is a clever play on words.
Tokyo Takyo is still selling fairly well, but the sheer amount of passerby that the crepe truck is reeling in grates on his nerves. Even on their best days, Haru and Nagisa have never served numbers this big.
Haru, for all his talk, doesn't seem to mind that much—he's perfectly content to stand in front of the stove with his thoughts in the back of the truck. But Nagisa's the face of Tokyo Takyo, and, well—it's a little bit embarrassing, standing exposed, exchanging awkward smiles with people who hurry past to get to the vanilla colored truck behind him. He watches everyone carefully to cure his boredom, mentally logging what he sees: a woman in a red scarf, an old man, grey hair ruffling in the wind, a tall guy with dark hair, a scowl—wait.
"Sou-chan?" Nagisa says, only a little hysterically. The man turns, droopy eyes settling on his.
"Nagisa," says Sousuke, shooting him a charming smile. "Hey." Nagisa is not fooled.
"You're not getting takoyaki today?" Nagisa wails. Sousuke happens to be his favorite regular. Sousuke also happens to be one of their only regulars. "You're betraying us for crepes?"
"I'm not betraying you," says Sousuke. "I'm just trying them out for today—"
"You're betraying us for crepes!" Sousuke holds his hands up in a placating gesture, one already curled around a waxy cone. "You already went? Without saying hi?"
"Nagisa," says Haru. "Calm down. You're scaring people away."
"What people?" Nagisa cries. "All our potential customers are headed over to that demon truck behind us!"
"Is it really that bad?" says Sousuke, ignoring Nagisa's caterwauling.
"It's just the initial hype," says Haru. "We'll be fine."
"And him?" Sousuke waves his crepe in Nagisa's direction.
"He was okay when they pulled in this morning," Haru says, eyeing Nagisa, "although that may have had to do with that guy in glasses."
Nagisa lifts his head up from where they were resting, despondent, in his arms. "Shut up, Haru-chan."
"Ah," says Sousuke, glinting, "the workers there are very cute, aren't they?"
"They are not," Nagisa shakes his head. "They are, as of now, the enemy. And so are you, Sou-chan!" he says quickly, when Sousuke laughs. "Don't think you're getting off the hook this easy."
"Aw, Nagisa," says Sousuke, reaching up to pat his head. "Don't be like that. I'll get some takoyaki."
"You already have food," says Haru, pointing to the offending object in Sousuke's right hand.
"Who says a man can't have both?" Sousuke smiles at him. "C'mon, Hazuki," he says, cajoling. Nagisa huffs and crosses his arms, looking away, but when Haru flips them, piping hot, onto the paper dish, Nagisa adds extra mayonnaise and green onion—the way Sousuke likes it.
break
"Bye, Sou-chan!" waves Nagisa a little later when Sousuke's making his leave.
"You can take a short break if you want to," says Haru to his phone. "There's a lull. Go get us lunch, or something."
Nagisa salutes Haru ("Aye-aye!") and bounds out of the back door.
He takes a long look at Belles Crepes on his way back from the café down the street, grasping a paper bag of sandwiches and soup. The girl and the boy inside are bustling around inside in their tiny aprons and hats. Cute!, Nagisa thinks, then, no no no wait they're the enemy. Focus, Nagisa!
They seem very at ease with each other, none of the stiffness that crept over the guy when he met Nagisa's eye this morning present at all. They're probably together, that makes sense, thinks Nagisa, who is not in the least bit disappointed, thank you very much. He doesn't notice he's openly staring until the girl waves him over.
"Hi!" she trills, fingers wiggling. "I'm Matsuoka Gou! You work next door, right?"
"Uh, yeah," says Nagisa, smiling despite himself at her cheery attitude. "Hazuki Nagisa of Tokyo Takyo. We sell takoyaki! In Tokyo!"
The guy sniffs a bit, and Gou not-so-subtly jabs him in the side, still smiling widely. He makes a choked noise, adjusts his glasses, and looks Nagisa dead in the eye. "Ryugazaki Rei," and Nagisa almost misses it, he's so disoriented by violet eyes.
"Ah, I'm Hazuki Nagisa," says Nagisa, and Gou giggles behind her hand.
"Yes, you've said that already," says Rei.
"Have I?" says Nagisa, full-flirt, because Rei's even sexier up close, who knew eyes could be that color? And he must work out or something, nobody's born with biceps like that, a body like that, which Nagisa can clearly see outlined, thank you for tying that apron so tight, Rei-cha—dammit. He's forgotten he's here to establish Tokyo Takyo's dominance, not charm the handsome guy in glasses.
"You two sure picked an interesting spot," Nagisa says lightly. Gou leans forward on her elbows, chin propped up. She looks vaguely interested, a corner of her mouth tugging slightly upwards.
"Yes," says Rei, taking the bait. "It's really an optimal location."
"I know," says Nagisa. "I've been here since summer started." He lets that hang in the air a moment. "Don't you think it's a little weird, choosing a spot right behind another food truck?"
Rei's scowling face—which Nagisa thinks might just be his resting expression—deepens. "Just what are you implying here?"
"Nothing, nothing," says Nagisa airly, waving his free hand. "It's just that—well, this isn't as populated an area as other locations, so it might be kinda hard for two food trucks, you know?"
"Maybe for you," Rei says haughtily, thumbing his glasses. "We're not the ones selling an item so common," and that really ticks Nagisa off, because Haru-chan's cooking is anything and everything wonderfully not common.
"You think these skinny pancakes are better than Japan's comfort food?" says Nagisa loudly. "Each little ball is a taste of home!"
"You can get takoyaki anywhere, but where can you find such a beautiful French delicacy in the heart of Tokyo on the go?"
"My takoyaki are much better than your flimsy flapjacks," Nagisa says, leans as close as he can to Rei.
"Well, I can guarantee that my crepes—" but whatever lie he's about to spew is cut off by loud laughter.
"What are you saying?" Gou says, eyes creased up. "Your takoyaki? Your crepes? Did you two forget who actually cooks the food?" She throws her head back again in mirth. "It's me and that dark-haired guy next door, in case you need reminding. Not you, baby Rei," and she tugs at Rei's cheek, pinching pink skin between her thumb and forefinger. "Or you," she says, pointing a blunt finger over her shoulder as she leaves the counter.
"My point still stands!" says Nagisa. "And you can consider the Tokyo Takyo your rivals!"
"Rivals?" echoes Gou from somewhere inside, still chuckling, but Nagisa can see Rei is totally swept into the chaos.
"Rivals, then," Rei says, suddenly very solemn and serious. A beat later the façade breaks and lets out a pretentious snort. "As if there's even any competition."
"Excuse me?" says Nagisa. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I mean that your little junk truck is hardly a threat." Rei's eyes slide over to the right, eyeing the Tokyo Takyo. "That rusty old thing looks like it can barely even move."
"Hey!" says Nagisa, offended. Haru had worked hard, hand painting their logo. "You leave our truck out of this! You must be scared if you're trying to comment on stuff outside the food."
"Scared?" Rei says, eyebrows shooting up. "Scared? As if!" His speech loses some of its refined quality.
"Hmm…" says Nagisa, tapping his chin. He tilts his head. "That sounds like denial."
"I'm not in denial—"
"That's exactly what a scared person in denial would say!"
Rei's nostrils flare. Nagisa smiles back serenely.
"You—you're so—"
"If you're not scared," Nagisa interrupts, suddenly feeling ambitious, "make a bet with me." Rei pauses in his sputtering.
"A bet?" he asks, his face naturally settling into a frown. "And just what would this little bet entail?"
"Whoever has the least customers…has to…" Nagisa stops to think. "Um…" and then an idea strikes him, so brilliant and clever that he's momentarily stunned by his own genius. "Whoever has the least customers by the end of next week has to buy the other guy dinner!"
Honestly, he's impressed with himself for thinking this one up—it's a win-win situation: he gets to gloat in Rei's conceited face AND he gets treated to a meal.
At Nagisa's proposal, Rei's scowling expression twists into something of embarrassment, his cheeks taking on a slight tint. His glasses are knocked slightly askew as he ungracefully stutters a reply, and Nagisa is privately amused in watching his usually composed enemy flounder around.
"I-um…well, I supposed that is fair eno—"
"Am I included in this deal?" asks Gou, reappearing and saving Rei from humiliating himself any further. She flashes her teeth at Nagisa's startled look. "Kidding, kidding." Before he can comment, a hand is shoved in his face.
"Deal. Shake on it," commands Rei. He isn't quite meeting Nagisa's eye, focusing somewhere behind his left ear.
He notices Rei has really big hands…nice hands. Long fingers. Slim wrists. Shaking his head, Nagisa grasps Rei's palm and shakes firmly.
"You're going down!" Nagisa says wildly.
Rei draws up to his full height, which is—actually pretty tall. Wow. Nagisa has to crane his neck to look into his face, the added height of the truck Rei's standing in causing him to tower above, the pastel color scheme blurring the edges of his anger.
"I won't lose!" He crosses his arms, somehow still elegant with his hair tufting up in different directions and his face flushed with irritation.
"It's not a race," says Gou, but she looks incredibly amused. Nagisa wants to stay and glare a little harder up into Rei's pretty face, but the back door of Tokyo Takyo flies open, and Haru's staring at him.
"What are you doing? Hurry up, I'm starving," he calls, and Nagisa is forced to grab the paper bag and make his leave—but not without one last (almost coy) glance over his shoulder.
Break
Nagisa throws himself into the last two hours of the lunch shift with new vigor. He talks, he laughs, he makes conversation. Customers usually served with a smile are served…with a bigger smile.
Nagisa internally curses himself for already being an incredibly friendly server. How is anyone supposed to tell the difference? How is he supposed to attract more people if he's already at one hundred percent charm?
Sometimes, if he leans out far enough when handing the hot dish into eager hands, he can catch a glimpse of Rei, smug grin always present. Nagisa wants to wipe it off his face, sometimes with his fist, sometimes with his tongue, depending on his mood. Rei gives him a mixed vibe. An 'I-want-to-run-you-into-the-ground-but-also-hold-your-soft-hands' vibe. A 'my-takoyaki-are-better-than-your-crepes-lets-feed-each-other-our-food-naked-to-taste-the-competition' vibe. It's all very confusing.
Nagisa is distracted from his thoughts when three fiery, golden children wander onto the scene. The younger two seem very small—Nagisa guesses they're around four or five years old, with a brother looks to be some years older.
"What do you guys want?" he asks his siblings.
"What's that one?" asks the little girl, pointing to Belles Crepes. She and her older brother attempt to sound it out.
"They're crepes!" calls Rei, from his counter. "They're like little pancakes filled with delicious treats!"
"Like what? Can I see?" asks the girl, and stumbles forward when Rei displays a beautiful golden cake, drizzled with chocolate and tucked neatly into a paper cone. "It's pretty! Onii-chan, I want one!" She squeals with delight when Rei hands it to her.
Her brother shrugs good-naturedly. "I guess we'll all get 'em, because our mom said to only go to one place," he tells Rei, and turns to the youngest child. "C'mon, what do you want in yours?"
The littlest boy jerks away from his brother. "I want takoyaki!" he says, pointing straight at Nagisa in the Tokyo Takyo. "Daddy always gets me takoyaki from this red truck! I want it with a lotta sauce!"
"No!" cries his sister, clutching her crepe. "We have to get this one!"
"Look at all the flavors," the eldest boy says, patting his brother on the shoulder soothingly. "You can get any flavor you want! I have enough money." He fishes out some bills and shows them off.
"Takoyaki flavor!" cries the little boy. "Takoyaki! I want takoyaki!"
"You get takoyaki so many times!" says his sister angrily.
"You do get it a lot," says the oldest brother, surprisingly calm.
"I don't mind making some for him," says Nagisa kindly. Both boys look to him, lips stretched.
"Yay!" cheers the little boy, fists in the air.
"Sorry," says his brother, still smiling, "but our mom said only one store. We'll come to you next time, promise!"
Nagisa tries not to slump over in defeat as he watches the trio carefully place their order, politely (and tearfully, in the case of the youngest brother) take their treats from Rei. He's sniffling a bit when they start to leave.
"Aw, Momo, don't cry," says the oldest, and stoops down a bit. "Here, I'll give you a piggyback ride home." They all wave goodbye to both Belles Crepes and Tokyo Takyo when they walk past, beaming, and it's such a cute image that Nagisa, despite falling even further behind Rei, waves brightly back.
Break
Haru must have noticed his mopey demeanor, because he offers a reassuring pat on the back.
"Don't worry. People will always love takoyaki," he says, and gazes at his stove with something akin to lust in his eyes. Nagisa mentally moves past that and sighs heavily, resting curls on Haru's shoulder.
"I know that, Haru-chan," he moans, rubbing his head back and forth, "but our honor and my wallet are at stake here."
"Your wallet?" says Haru, and Nagisa launches into a long-winded recount of his interaction with Rei and Gou and explains the bet.
"You asked him out to dinner?" asks Haru when he's finished, a little out of breath.
"Haru-chan! Is that the only thing you took out of this?" says Nagisa.
"I don't see what the problem is here," says Haru. "Either way, you get to go on a date with him."
"It's not like that!" says Nagisa, even though it is actually exactly like that. "I only said that for humiliation purposes!" He thinks of Rei's red face and mentally marks it down as a victory.
Haru looks at him. "Nagisa…nothing you're saying makes sense."
"Okay," says Nagisa, fingers pressed against his temples. Nothing against Haru, of course, but his friend can be so incredibly dense when it comes to human interaction. It's all about what people don't say, and subtlety, Haru-chan, subtlety. "Okay. So he's decent-looking,"—drop dead gorgeous, if he's being completely honest shut up shut up—"and he's got a nice body, but he's an asshole and a newcomer and we were here first and also I think he needs to be put in his place."
"And…you think dressing up and flouncing around in those denim shorts while eating things like whipped cream and juicy fruit off your fingers is going to 'put him in his place'? I know you, Nagisa. I know how you act when you're trying to get in someone's pants."
"What!" cries Nagisa, pink. "I've only just met him today, Haru-chan! Is this really what you think of me?"
Haru raises one delicate brow. Nagisa's cheeks deepen. Okay, so yeah, he's not completely opposed to the idea Rei naked—those biceps, oh my God—but that doesn't change the fact that the guy is a dismissive jerk and an insult to Tokyo Takyo. He doesn't want Haru to know for a reason he can't place, which is interesting, because he's always been open with his thoughts and affection and romantic antics before, but it must show on his face, his acceptance of Haru's accusation, because the chef smirks—only slightly—and turns back to the stove.
Break
Finally, finally the lunch shift comes to an end, and three in the afternoon has never felt sweeter. Nagisa is ready to head back to his and Haru's apartment and throw himself under the covers. He doesn't have the dinner shift later today—rarely has it, actually. Usually Makoto's the one who helps Haru in the evenings. It is rare all three of them are forced to pile in together…which suddenly ticks him off. Do Rei and Gou ever need another hand on deck?
"Help me carry this to the front," says Haru, interrupting his thoughts and gesturing towards bins with a jerk of his head. Nagisa sighs and crouches to pick up the crates of plastic cutlery and dishes. Haru likes to store anything that's not an ingredient in the front, where they sit to drive, and they go through the cycle of transporting plates and utensils, for those who dislike messy fingers, every day.
Right as he's jumping out of the back door, cheap chopsticks aimed at his face and praying he doesn't gouge out an eye, Gou and Rei stroll to the front of their truck, easy and graceful in the afternoon rays. Nagisa hates himself for stumbling over his landing.
"Hello," says Haru. He sets his crate of napkins and cups down.
"Hi!" says Gou. She's very pretty when she smiles. Nagisa notes how close she and Rei are standing. "Nice to meet you! I'm Matsuoka Gou, and this is Ryugazaki Rei!" Rei bows his head at Haru, silent.
"It's nice to meet you, too," says Haru. "My name is Nanase Haruka, and this is my co-worker, Hazuki Nagisa."
"We've met already," Gou aims her cheery smile at Nagisa. "Your takoyaki smell delicious! The wind carries the scent into our truck all the time, my mouth was literally watering the whole time."
Haru looks pleased, brushing silky hair out of his eyes. "Thank you. It's my own recipe."
"Is it really? You'll have to show me sometime, I feel like mine always come out so bland!"
"That would be nice," says Haru, smiling at his apron. Nagisa marvels at how easily Gou won him over.
"Gou, isn't it time to get going?" Rei shifts on his feet. "We don't want to cause Rin any worry, especially on our first day."
"Oh right, right, sorry," she says, casting an apologetic look over at Nagisa and Haru. "We would stay and talk, but it's our first day and Rin's probably worried."
"Rin?" asks Nagisa.
"Our manager," Rei answers, which is fantastic. Sounds like another pretty girl for Rei to hang around.
"Sorry!" Gou says again. Nagisa and Haru assure her that all is well as she and Rei clamber into the front of their truck. Nagisa grins when Gou settles herself in the driver's seat, the juxtaposition of her small frame and the large vehicle amusing.
"Hazuki-san," Rei calls from his window.
Nagisa glances at Haru, startled, but his friend simply raises a fine brow. "I'll get the rest of the stuff packed," says Haru, and wanders over to the front doors. Nagisa sucks in a breath and trots over to Rei.
"How many plates did you serve today?" asks Rei, examining his nails with a bored expression. Haughty, uptight—!
"Around three hundred," Nagisa bites out. Rei's eyebrows rise, and Nagisa resists the urge to take a swing. "Well? What about you?"
"About five hundred," answers Rei, casting a look at him over the rims of his lenses. "Five hundred and twenty-seven, to be exact." Nagisa struggles to control the surprise that threatens to wash over his face. He succeeds in gaping like a fish out of water.
"Impressive," he grumbles. Rei smiles.
"I know," he says, and shows Nagisa a notepad. "I've already marked today down as my victory."
"You're keeping a tally?" Nagisa grabs the purple book. "Are you serious? You have every day from now until next Friday written down!" He looks at the butterfly print, runs his fingers over the soft leather of the binding and Rei's boxy script. He's written the outline of their bet, penciled in today's statistics and numbers. How nitpicky. How adorable.
"Well, yes," says Rei, slightly red. "I—well—it's important to be organized! Anyways, it's not like there's any way I won't win this joke of a bet." He sniffs disdainfully, and the slight warmth Nagisa felt at his stuttering disappears. He opens his mouth to retort but Gou's hand shoves Rei's face aside, and soon both the workers of Belles Crepes are peering down at him through the window.
"Rei, don't be rude!" she chides. "Don't worry, Hazuki-san, I'm rooting for you!" She flashes her teeth, and, to Nagisa's mortification, sends him a saucy wink. "I know you'll win no matter the outcome!" Nagisa's mind stumbles over the implications of her statement as she plops back in her seat, giggling over Rei's splutters of food truck solidarity.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Hazuki-san," says Rei over the hum of the engine. They eye each other coolly, and the golden light of the afternoon bathes Rei's face. He looks like royalty, all gentle ruffling in the breeze and glowing skin.
"Yeah," breathes Nagisa as the truck roars away, dust rising in its wake.
He belatedly realizes he's still clutching Rei's little notebook in his hands, pages crumpling in his tight grip.
ahhh hope you guys enjoyed, comments/kudos always appreciated! talk to me abt characterization..
also feel free to drop by! didsw on tumblr :)