Kiyoko: Hey, I'm right near your apartment. Mind if I come over?
Sure, see you soon?
Kiyoko: Less than five minutes!
Haru wondered what Kiyoko was up to. He thought she was working until close that night, but her schedule was all over the place which made it hard for him to keep track of. He looked up to Makoto who leaned against the opposite side of the island from him. The brunet reached for the confections in the box between them, but Haru quickly snatched the box away.
"Kiyoko was in the neighborhood, so she's coming over."
Makoto smiled knowingly and said, "That's good. I wanted to ask her something, and now I don't have to text her."
"Is Rin still coming over too?"
"Yeah, he should be here pretty soon."
There was a knock at their door and a moment later, Kiyoko walked into the kitchen. Haru could tell right away that she was upset about something. She still wore her black pants and white button up shirt, indicating she had come straight from work.
"Hey guys," she greeted, flashing Makoto a smile before leaning down to place a kiss on Haru's cheek. "Do you mind if I steal some of your clothes?"
"No, go ahead. I think you left a shirt last time you were here. It's washed and in my second drawer."
"You're seriously the best," she replied earnestly, kissing his cheek once more before heading off toward his bedroom.
Makoto was quiet a moment before asking, "Does she know Rin is coming over and we were planning on drinking? She looks tired."
"I mentioned it to her earlier," Haru shrugged. "I'll go remind her."
He stood and walked down the hall to his bedroom. Cautiously, he nudged the door open and entered, quickly closing it behind him. Kiyoko looked up but didn't pause as she pulled on a pair of his sweatpants. They remained silent as she unbuttoned her shirt and shrugged out of it.
"I can't wait until we finally live together. I'll never have to wear a bra except for in public," she mentioned as she pulled on her previously forgotten orange tank top.
"I look forward to it, too, then," he joked absently. "You remember Rin is coming over tonight, right?"
"Yeah, I do. I don't mean to intrude on your guys' night, but a few friends to drink with would be awesome right now," she said, extracting a bottle of vodka from her purse on the foot of his bed.
Haru frowned and asked, "What's wrong?"
Grey eyes began to shine with tears and she lied, "Nothing, just a rough day."
"I could tell something had upset you as soon as you walked in the kitchen," he muttered.
After a brief pause, she admitted, "I quit my job."
"Why is that a bad thing? They were running you into the ground."
Her lip trembled and she said, "But I was making a lot of money. I've been able to save a lot, but I mean… My situation isn't like yours. You were drafted for swimming and the university supplements your income. I'm not saying you don't work hard, because you really, really do, I just mean that I need to always have a job outside school to pay my bills. I feel like I made a stupid rash decision and now I'm-"
Haru cut her off, saying, "Kiyoko, I get how it's different. But now you can find a new job."
"But I had something that was a sure thing, and-"
"And it was making you miserable. Now you can find something better, and in four months when we graduate, you can do something you really love." The dark haired woman didn't look convinced, so the swimmer continued, "That job was exhausting you, it was rough on you physically and you weren't happy. You'll find another job, and until then, using up some of your savings will be worth not having to run around for ten hours a day."
"Thanks, Haruka," she sniffled, wrapping him up in a hug.
He returned the gesture and said, "Don't worry so much. Anyways, what happened that made you quit all of a sudden?"
Kiyoko sighed and leaned against his chest. "There's this older guy who comes in every Friday night to hit on the servers. The past few weeks, he's been asking to be seated in my section specifically. At first, I didn't mind because he tips well, but last week and this week he told me he would tip extra if I'd unbutton a few buttons on my shirt or flirt with him or something. Last week, I told my manager and she said she was too busy to do anything about it. This week, she told me to just deal with it because it's bad for business to drive off loyal customers. I've been working almost fifty hours a week, often with minimal breaks, dealing constantly with rude customers and other overworked, irritated staff. I figured the least they could do was throw out the creeps that harass me and the other servers. I was clearly wrong, though, and I just snapped."
Haru didn't like what he was hearing at all. Of course, he knew that sexual harassment was a common problem service workers faced, but he certainly didn't like thinking about Kiyoko having to deal with it. "You did the right thing. You don't need to put up with people like him."
"I know," she sighed. "Anyways, thanks again for the talk. It was just a really hard day and I was going sort of crazy."
"You've had more than enough hard days to warrant it," he shrugged.
"Are you two love birds ever going to come drink with us?" they heard Rin shout from the kitchen.
Kiyoko laughed and said, "Well, this vodka isn't going to drink itself."
Haru nodded, glad to see her mood was much lighter. The pair returned to the kitchen and after greetings were exchanged, the four began conversing, taking shots, and mixing drinks. They continued for a while, playing drinking games and then moving to the living room to laze on the couches and sip at their cups. Rin splayed out on the couch, Makoto on the love seat, and Haru sat in the armchair with Kiyoko sitting in his lap.
"Hey, Kiyoko, I wanted to ask you something," Makoto said after a while. "What are Aiko's plans for after graduation?"
The black haired woman blinked a few times in confusion before answering, "She wants to go to grad school, though she hasn't decided which one yet. Why don't you ask her?"
"Well, I don't want her to think I'm asking so I can cling to her or that I intend to follow her wherever she ends up, I mean…"
"She won't think that. You guys are going to have to talk about it at some point, right?"
"Have you too finally had that discussion?" Rin asked, lifting a brow.
Kiyoko nodded. Haru was grateful she was really taking the reins on this one. "Yeah, we did. We have our options sorted out, and we'll just have to see which one makes the most sense depending on what happens."
"Do you have any other hot, single friends?" the red head inquired, switching topics.
"Just one," she answered. Unable to fully suppress a chuckle, she continued, "Because last I checked, Sousuke is single and pretty attractive."
Makoto burst into laughter, and Haru chuckled along as well at his friend's expense. Kiyoko dissolved into giggles and Rin glared at her. "Very funny," he snapped. "You know very well he's not my type."
"You didn't ask a very specific question," she pointed out with a shrug.
Rin just pouted and downed the rest of his drink. The night continued on with even more alcohol, laughter and chatting. Finally, Rin had fallen asleep, and Makoto was looking a bit sick.
"I am really regretting all those sata andagi," the brunet lamented, holding his midsection in discomfort.
"You guys had andagi?" Kiyoko asked, envy audible in her voice.
Makoto nodded, but then got up and quickly left the room. Haru adjusted his arms around Kiyoko's waist and said, "Don't worry, I saved a piece for you."
"You did?" she asked, surprised.
"They're one of your favorite foods," Haru nodded.
Kiyoko smiled widely and placed a kiss on his lips. Pulling away, she said, "Let's go share it."
A/N: Thank you for the review (which I will reply to below because it was lovely and I can't reply directly), favoriting, following and reading! If you have a moment, please consider leaving a review!
Gabby: Thank you so much for your review! It really brightened my day. It bothers me a tiny bit that my Haru fics don't have many reviews, if any, but I'll continue posting on this one regardless. I started writing it right before my final year of college began and this follows Haru and Kiyoko through their senior year as well. It took me the whole academic year to write it, so I was able to put a lot of myself into the story. Anyways, I'm glad you think this has been fitting for Haru thus far; I've tried really hard through the whole story to be true to his character! Thank you again for your review and I hope you enjoy the chapters to come!
