3. Wining and Dining (and whining)

Rin wouldn't usually have asked Komatsu for a favour given that she didn't really know him that well, but this was an exception and she was sure he wasn't the type of man who'd read more into her request than he was supposed to. Sick to death of being at the mercy of Mansam's ideas of what constituted 'food' while she was at Biotope 1, she'd decided it was finally time for her to learn to cook properly, make her own meals for a change. And, well, everybody was so big on Komatsu being such an amazing cook, she'd decided it wouldn't hurt to ask.

He'd cheerfully turned up to Sunny's house (where she stayed on her days away from work) bearing bags of ingredients at seven sharp that evening, all set to start her lesson. She had to admit, she'd sort of doubted how good he was given all the hyperbole, but it was apparent from the start that it was all true.

To begin with, he'd obviously remembered that she liked sweet foods and had chosen a menu fittingly, including pork in a slightly sweet citrus sauce, tangy roasted vegetables and a chocolatey dessert that made her mouth water from just the description of it. Then he'd further impressed her by immediately judging her level of ability and calmly adjusting the way he talked her through the cooking process, not too complicated but not at all patronising.

He led her through the recipes by example, showing her each little process then letting her do it herself. He even let her use his special Melk knife, which was a surprisingly eye-opening experience (she accidently cut the chopping board in half with it, but they had another one so it was all good).

By the time the food was all ready and they sat down to eat it, Rin felt so happy and accomplished, so comfortable in Komatsu's company, that she decided to get one of the bottles of wine that Sunny kept stashed away in the back of the pantry, the light-weight, fruity sort that she actually liked.

That had been a mistake. Neither of them drank often and, while they were okay during the meal with the food to soak up the alcohol, the second bottle kind of kicked their asses.

She couldn't really remember whose idea it had been to sit on the kitchen floor, but it had been a good one. The tiles were surprisingly comfy, and it felt pleasantly intimate to just sit and chat with Komatsu like this. The plate with the remains of the triple layer chocolate ginger torte was on the floor between them and, though they'd started off being civilised and cutting slices from it, they now each reached over every couple of minutes to carve a bite off it with their forks.

"He said that Toriko used to walk around on all fours like a puppy and make puppy noises," Komatsu was telling her slurringly, and she giggled, all too able to visualise it.

"Toriko's so silly."

"Yeah. You like him though, right?"

"You...you noticed?"

"Um...yeah."

She sighed and let her head fall back against the wall.

"I liked him forever, but I don't think he even knows. I ought to start trying to get over him," she admitted. It sounded like a good idea, actually. Why could she only put things like that together when she was drunk?

"He's a jerk," Komatsu sighed, and she sat forward, surprised, to look at him properly. That wasn't at all like Komatsu.

He glanced over at her. "Not all the time. Not much of the time at all, actually," he admitted. "Just sometimes."

"Like when?" Rin asked, fascinated.

"Well, for a start, he said goodbye to me at the train station last week in a really weird way, and he hasn't said more than two words to me since then. It's weird, even when I call him he gets all breathless, like he's scared. And there's worse than that."

"Like what?"

"Like when he's drunk."

"Oh my God! You saw him when he was drunk? I only heard about it from Mansam!"

"You should be glad, he was such a pain!"

"What did he do?"

Komatsu sighed again and dropped his head back against the wall with a thunk. Rin had to bite her lip; Komatsu was adorable when he was drunk, and very informative. "He fell all over the place, and you know how much he weighs, so I had no chance of helping him up. Then when I finally got him home he got out of the cab and right away started chewing on the doorstep."

"The doorstep?"

"You remember it's made of chocolate?"

"Oh, right."

"So it took me a while to convince him to stop and then he decided he wanted to give me a tour around his new house. I said he didn't have to because I'd been to the house warming and I could remember it all, but he picked me up and started showing me all these random bits of the walls."

Rin giggled, wishing sorely that she'd been around to see it.

"Then he started to tell me that I was cute and when I told him not to be dumb he grabbed my ass."

"What?"

"He grabbed my ass! Groped it! I was mortified, but then he went all...dopey. So I managed to get him into bed and slept the night on a futon in case he got sick or anything."

"That jerk!" Rin cried.

"I know! And the next day he didn't remember a thing about it! Well, not at first..."

"You know, the number of times I practically gave him a written invitation to feel my ass, and would he? No!"

"Because he's a jerk!"

"And I have a really nice ass!"

"I know, I saw!"

"Not to say you don't, 'cause you do, but for heaven's sake!"

"I know!"

"So I wanted him to touch mine but he wouldn't-"

"And I didn't want him to touch mine but he did," Komatsu finished.

"Stupid Toriko, he doesn't get it," Rin snarled.

"I know! You're so pretty Rin!" Komatsu cried.

"You're so cute Komatsu!" Rin cried.

They'd just flung their arms around one another, close to tears from the intense emotion of so much sympathy and booze, when the door to the kitchen flew open, and in the aperture stood Sunny, resplendent in his silk pyjamas.

"What the fuck is going on in here?" he yelled. "I'm tryin' to get my beauty sleep!"

"Sunny-san," Komatsu said faintly from where he was clasped to Rin's bosom, "What's that on your face?"

"It's a face pack, Matsu." Sunny replied with an annoyed sigh. "That isn't the point."

"He thinks it'll stop him from getting wrinkles," Rin hissed in a stage whisper. Sunny frowned.

"Making that face will make it worse," Komatsu informed him sagely.

"Shut up!" Sunny snapped.

Rin threw a wine cork at him.

Steaming mad and apparently not inclined to argue any further, Sunny flicked off the lights and slammed the door, leaving Komatsu and Rin sitting in the pitch dark kitchen, still hugging each other. It took them a few seconds to gather their wits.

"Rin-san? Where's your hand?" Komatsu asked.

"Oh! Sorry."