"Hey, what are you doing here?" April was smiling even as she asked. It was forever going to be her reaction to Kota.
"I told you yesterday I would see you tomorrow. And today is yesterday's tomorrow."
That took a second, but he had said that. Possibly. More or less. "So, what do you have in mind?"
"Are you happier now?"
"Yes. It was silly to be sad in the first place." If she was still a little blue, well...it was going to take a few days, at least. She thought she could be afforded that much.
"Yes, it was. He is married. And the woman he is trying to bring here is not his wife. You deserve much, much better."
"How -?"
"Everything you feel is always in your eyes. But you feel better now, and you did not make a terrible mistake. So the three of us will go drinking to celebrate!"
Kenny must be back, then. She wasn't so sure she was in the mood to be a third wheel to a happy couple, but Kota had a way of making what he wanted to be real into reality. "Do I get to go home and change again?"
"We'll go somewhere there are are many people in office clothes. You will fit in and we won't."
She had the feeling that it was as much of a compromise as she was going to get; he was already making reality.
He was back a couple of hours later, when her day was over. He had one last surprise for her: The third of their trio was Hiroshi Tanahashi, not Kenny. It was hardly strange for teammates to party together, but it still threw her a little. Something about Tanahashi made her feel as shy as she possibly could.
He turned out to be as determined to get her over that as Kota was happy to see it working. She was nervous for a while because she recognized people from the office at the bar, but what could they say? There was really nothing that could be said about her and Kota, after all - and if there were, they had a chaperone. And her out drinking with a married man? Well, there was Kota to be their chaperone if anyone had anything to say about that. So she could relax and have fun.
Not too much fun, though; there was work in the morning, and a hangover to not have. When people she recognized started leaving, she knew it was time for her to do the same. She was a little surprised at how reluctant she was to do that. She'd ended up having a lot more fun than she was expecting. Kota looked very happy about it all as he put her in a taxi home.
There was time for a few more drinks, and to address the ulterior motive he'd had in arranging this get-together. Kota went back in, ordered another round, and sat back down. "Do you see?"
Tana nodded. "She is lovely. She seems very nice, too."
"She does not take me seriously."
"You know there could be any number of reasons for that. This may be a silly question, but does she know you like women?"
The thunderstruck look on Kota's face said no.
And who but you would forget to mention that to her? "Well, there is your answer. You have another problem now, you know."
"Yes. She likes men who are not good enough for her."
"Ah. Then you have two problems. I was thinking more about the shock it will be to her that the friend she trusts, who she tells things she tells no one else, isn't who she thought and wants things she didn't know about. You must let her know, but you must do it slowly. Let her discover it."
"Then it will not seem like a betrayal to her."
"Exactly." He looked at his friend curiously. "I don't remember you ever making this much effort for a woman."
"She makes me feel different."
"How?"
Kota looked into his drink as if the words for it might be there. "Warm."
Tana stifled a grin. He was married to and had two children with the woman who made him feel that way. "Then she is worth being patient with."
It was true, and Kota thought about that all the way home. But they had two different definitions of patience. He was on the phone the moment he was in the door of his apartment. "You were not in bed?"
"I'm kind of wired up yet. I thought I'd better sit up for a while."
"You had fun?"
"Yes, I did. You know, I really don't know what I'd do without you."
"It's good that you never have to find out, then."
"You've got your own stuff to take care of. You don't need all of mine, too."
"What if I want it?"
"Says the guy who shoots fireworks at himself. What you want isn't always good for you, is it?"
"Not always, but it's usually fun."
"Oh lord. Go to sleep, you."
"If you insist. I will see you tomorrow."
"Hey, maybe - " But he was already gone.
She got up and made herself some tea - decaf or she was never going to get to sleep. Her thoughts went where she didn't want them to go, but she was too worn out to fight them.
It would be so easy, just let go and fall. Why is it always the ones I can't have or shouldn't want? She wondered sometimes, when it was late and she wasn't able to dodge the thought, if she chose the unattainable because she didn't really want anyone. Or maybe it's just that all of the good ones are taken.
The tea was relaxing, and everything was catching up with her, making her dozy. It wouldn't be the first time she'd fallen asleep on the couch, but she knew she'd pay for that in the morning with aching everything. She hauled herself up and got herself to bed, wondering what made her think she'd ever be able to keep up with Kota, anyway. She was lower-energy, a thousand times over. Better to be an almost-hermit with one good friend than to get wrapped up in believing in the impossible again.