—kobayashi & quiche (have returned ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡ ))

[miss kobayashi]

nao didn't respond to his first question, not really caring whether the poor boy would stay now or not. someonething was off about the way that the boy was talking, almost if his voice had weakened as he spoke. nao didn't put together the suspicion of hding under the bed and sounding off aferwards. he would ask about it later. he tried to force his eyes shut, but despite his exhaustion, he couldn't even relax on his own bed. this was it. this was his punishment for throwing another party, wasn't it?

for a moment, he focused on the other's footsteps as taiyo made his way towards the door. nao waited until the other made it all the way to the doorframe when he finally decided to speak up. " could you... " he paused, wondering if he really wanted to have the poor boy dig around his bathroom. would he steal his medicine? is that something poor people do? they probably don't have proper health care... maybe this was a bad idea. but a sharp pain in his head told him otherwise. he winced, suffering quietly through the pain before letting out a heavy sigh. " i have painkillers in the bathroom cabinet. it's medicine. get it. " nao demanded, not even bothering to look up to see if the other was listening to his command.

[quiche cat!]

although he felt groggy and weighed down by his bad luck, taiyo could almost taste freedom as he stepped into the hallway. no, he wasn't running away, he just needed to collect his thoughts and spend some time making a game plan. he couldn't just barge into the room whenever he wanted to search for the ring, after all! and it wasn't even the fact that he'd lost the ring that irked him, though that part was what would probably get him into trouble; it was the fact that the ring had some deeper meaning, and the boy had been selfish enough to open the little box and intrude on nao's privacy. what was he, a child? snooping around like some oblivious little two-year-old! taiyo hung his head in defeat, about ready to banish himself to his generously gifted room when he heard nao speak up behind him. for some reason the man sounded worn out, and having briefly forgotten about the party the night before, taiyo vaguely wondered if he had caused the other a hefty amount of distress.

upon that realization—and because he truly didn't have a choice—he knew that it was only right to try and make things better. ignoring the fact that nao had demanded instead of requested, taiyo took a deep, calming breath before spinning on his heels and re-entering the bedroom. without taking so much as a glance towards the bed—he'd start thinking about the ring and probably burst into tears again—the boy headed into what he assumed was the bathroom, hesitantly flicking the light switch before he reached up to open one of the cabinets. it took a minute or so of searching, but once he found the painkillers, he allowed himself to gape at the sheer size of the room. you could probably fit a small bedroom in there!

on his way out, he turned off the lights and traversed the bedroom to return to nao. maybe it was because he was rushing, or because he was closing in on the place where he'd dropped the ring, or maybe simply because nao maruyada was relaxing on his bed and acting less intense than usual, but taiyo tripped over his own two feet and tumbled to the floor, sending the bottle flying into the air. it, too, smashed onto the ground, but fortunately enough, it stayed intact. well, now he felt ten times more lame than he did a few minutes ago. crawling on the floor with embarrassment glowing in bright red across his cheeks, taiyo snatched the painkillers off the ground and stood, holding the bottle out to nao, but not brave enough to look him in the eye.

[miss kobayashi]

despite nao thinking his request would be easy for poor boy to achieve, he was wrong. not even a few minutes later a faint thud, what he could only guess to be poor boy, interested him enough to peek his eyes open once more. poor boy had fallen again, probably tripping over his carpet or over his own feet for that matter. the more he saw this other boy stumble around, the more it reminded him that poor people didn't really have anything to gain from proper manners and a solid standing.

now crawling on the ground with the same aura he had under the bed. maybe nao did just take in a cat after all. ridiculous. he thought, forcing any feeling of amusement or pity for the housekeeper and turning it into impatience. even so, the tinest snort of what sounded to be laughter came from nao as he glanced to the figure who was crawling across the ground. of course, the second the male had made it close enough to hand it to him, his usual discontented expression was clear on his face, hiding any hint of amusement from what had happened. with that, he reached out and grabbed the bottle, twisting the cap in another quick motion and taking a few pills before returning to a comfortable position on his bed. he didn't bother to thank the other──it was his job, after all──and instead acted as if taiyo hadn't done anything at all.

[quiche cat!]

having heard a snort from the other man, taiyo immediately pegged it as an indication of dissatisfaction and disgregarded it completely. after all, what was he supposed to do in defense? blame his clumsiness on the carpet? as he turned to leave, half expecting a "thank you," the boy was actually relieved when no response came. being snobby like that just seemed to be nao's nature, which—hopefully—meant that he was feeling better. without another word, taiyo shuffled into the halfway, releasing a pent-up sigh as he made his way to his own room. time to figure out how to find that ring!

*****

"my apologies, sir, sorry for the wait! here's your drink!" it had been a few weeks since taiyo was appointed nao maruyada's maid to pay off his debt, and things had started to become routine. he had gotten used to working day in and day out—whenever he was beckoned, really—and was more comfortable living with a rich man. maybe not comfortable, per say, but... he had learned to endure and persevere for the sake of the family heirloom...? regardless of his feelings, it seemed nao had loosened up and begun to tolerate the clumsy boy. that, at least, was progress.

tonight, taiyo was attending the first party of nao's that he'd actually been invited to. the catch? rather than attending, it was more like bartending; and catering, and cleaning, and staying out of the rich peoples' ways. at least, that was what nao had told him to do. but there was such an insane amount of people there that it was hard not to bump into them, and he'd already received plenty of disgruntled glares since the party had started. one man in particular, turning around to pinpoint who had knocked into him, had a familiar face. once he locked eyes with taiyo, his own widened in surprise. "hey, you're that kid! what are you doing--"

"ah, um, pardon me, sir!" taiyo cut the man—shouta, if he remembered correctly—short, covering his face with his hand as he ducked into a small crowd of people to escape. nao had explicitly stated that he should not, under any circumstances, engage in any conversations other than those that were strictly business related; and by business related, he'd meant asking for drink requests and apologizing when it took him more than a minute to grab said drinks. having only gotten used to doing housework, this whole party thing was wearing him out. his mind wandered to nao, wondering how he was holding up—but, then again, much of his life consisted of parties, so he was probably thriving.

while taiyo tended to a spill in the living room, shouta had found nao and sauntered up to him, prying off a few women that had latched themselves onto the handsome man like leeches. "mr. maruyada, why don't you give me more attention~~?" he cooed, clasping his hands around one of nao's and batting his eyelashes in an attempt at flirtation. "really, though, I came to ask you about a kid I recognize. the one that fell on me last time while I was out cold? I didn't know you invited him again!" shouta shooed away one of the persistent girls with a flick of his hand, his eyes shooting daggers at her before calmly returning to nao. "kid hardly looks old enough to drink. he a relative of yours or something?"

[miss kobayashi]

" mr. maruyada... mr. maruyada! are you even listening to me? " it took another moment for nao to realize he was being spoken to, an overwhelming amount of sensations snapping him back into reality. dim purple lights covered the main room, a thick smell of alcohol and expensive perfume the only detectable scent. several overlapping conversations mixed with the deep hum of music playing in the background, the low-pitch so heavy the ground practically shook. he glanced to his side, where an intoxicated brunette──she had told him his name, but he had forgotten──clung desperately to his arm, eyebrows furrowed. " yes... wait, what? " what he hadn't processed at the time, or had simply denied being true, was that he was so out of focus due to his attention being drawn toward a certain housekeeper that stuck out like a sore thumb. through the party, at first with occasional glances, and soon to minutes at a time, he had been making sure everything had been going well with taiyo. simply to make sure he wasn't embarrassing nao, that was all.

he had been wondering if this was a good idea from the start. nao didn't want taiyo to attend the party, he didn't really approve of mukami bringing a poor boy to his party the first time, but he also knew that poor boy could provide a service that he used to have at his parties, before his father banned him from having them. and taiyo had been doing a fine job cleaning around the house, so he thought it would be easy for him to serve drinks when he couldn't clean. easy was wrong. " hey! what the hell? " a girl hissed, one who had just been bumped by the housekeeper, spilling her drink onto her shirt as a result. after, she tugged on the shirt to reveal a large red stain from her drink. " ugh, this is silk! " the girl muttered to her friends. who cares? nao thought, close enough to see the interaction unfold. he had lost taiyo to the crowd when a familiar face pulled the clingy brunette off his arm, giving nao a wave of relief. the relief was soon redacted when shouta instead grabbed onto his hand, nao scowling in defeat.

for some odd reason, nao felt defensive when shouta brought up taiyo. he wasn't surprised that the poor boy was recognized, but shouta asking what their relationship was caused him to clam up for a second. " what, are you interested in him? " nao replied with a deadpan expression, pulling himself away from the grasp of shouta. why was it his business anyway? " it's... he just owes me a favor. that's all. " that was true. taiyo simply owed nao a favor for breaking something of his. there was nothing to look into there.

[quiche cat!]

oh? had he hit a nerve? shouta's eyebrows shot up at nao's sudden defensiveness, not exactly sure how to take his response. surely, if the kid had caused such an out of character retort from the usually level headed nao maruyada, something was up. was this his chance to milk some juicy gossip out of nao?! "...and what if I said I was?" the man teased with a lilt, a sly grin spreading his lips to reveal his perfectly pearly whites. "I mean, even if he owes you something—whatever that means," shouta pressed on, reaching out to playfully pat the others cheek, "surely that doesn't mean you care about who he involves himself with? hm?" having known nao since high school, shouta had become an expert at both entertaining and irritating the rich man, of which he was very proud to have accomplished. not everyone could call a maruyada a friend—though this maruyada would probably reject to having any ties with shouta. of course, according to shouta, that was just nao playing hard to get. "oh, but you're still my number one, don't be upset, sweetie! you have a special place in my heart, mr. maruyada~" as he spoke he grabbed nao's face in his hands, pressing a big smooch to the cheek that he'd patted, and eyeing the shell-shocked brunette all the while. he did this all the time to "save" the other man from pestering girls—and to have a little fun—but he knew nao despised him for it.

a sudden commotion on the balcony caused shouta's attention to shift off of nao, gasping in mock disbelief as his eyes settled on taiyo. "oh, no, did something happen to my number two? I must save him!" and with that, he smacked nao on the behind as he rushed towards the crowding people.

taiyo was in yet another predicament, and just like the painkiller incident, this one had left him on the floor. a little bit earlier in the night, he'd bumped into a nice-looking lady and she'd ended up spilling her drink on her nice-looking shirt. he'd apologized profusely but the lady, who'd turned out to be a complete and utter snob, just ranted about silk and ignored the housemaid out of fury. now, just a few moments ago, he'd received an order from that same lady—the same drink as before—and rushed to retrieve it. upon presenting it to the lady, she thanked him kindly as if her anger from before had dissolved, then dismissed him. taiyo was relieved that she had forgiven his clumsiness, and when he turned to leave, the lady kicked out her foot. taiyo being taiyo, he'd been in such a hurry that he tripped over it (as was her intention), and as soon as he'd hit the floor with a yelp, she'd tipped the drink over and poured it onto his head. "oopsie, my bad!" the lady sneered, suppressing a giggle as her friends began to laugh at the mess of a boy.

this sucked. sure, it had hurt, and taiyo was upset that this lady had taken her anger out at him in such a rude way, but what made him begin to tremble was the fact that his clothes were ruined; the same clothes that nao had generously bought for him, and now they were stained red! one look at the liquid seeping into his shirt made his breath hitch in his throat, and a steady stream of tears began to roll down his cheeks. now he was embarrassed, crying in front of all these rich people who had crowded around him to stare and snicker. all he wanted to do was crawl into a hole and beg nao for mercy, since he was bound to be livid after seeing how taiyo had treated the gifted outfit. taiyo hung his head as he scrambled to sit upright, scrunching various parts of the shirt in his hands to dry and drain some of the alcohol out of it. his attempts proved futile, since it had already been dyed red. "ahh, no... I'm so sorry, mr. maruyada..." the boy mumbled as he silently cried, continuing to wring out the shirt.

[miss kobayashi]

"...and what if I said I was? " a small jolt ran through nao's body when the words came out out shouta's mouth. no, that be be ridiculous. shouta would never ... he wouldn't──would he? but the feeling soon went away as he realized that the other had to have been joking. no one would look at a poor boy that way. his eyes rolled to the ceiling when the other continued, allowing the pat but not enjoying it. " i didn't say i cared. " he muttered, knowing he replied a little too quickly already.

" don't talk to me like that. " nao grumbled with squished cheeks. shouta was too casual to him. if it hadn't been for the fact that they were friends in high school and he a little about mukami, he probably wouldn't have even invited him to these sort of gatherings. the kiss was, arbitrary, to say the least, but he preferred it over a kiss from any other girl at the party.

nao flinched in surprise from the smack, heat rushing to his cheeks in an instant before narrowing his eyes. what was that idiot even going on about? it took another moment for him to hear the crash, followed by laugher off by the balcony. and as he made his way over, moving swiftly through the crowd of people to discover what the attention was on──and what he hoped wasn't. there was poor boy, all attention on him as a drink was poured onto his head, dripping from him to the ground. his fears had come true, however, but he didn't feel the embarassment he would've thought to have felt from the scene. instead...he felt pissed, as if he was the one who was just made a fool of.

" pathetic. " a small wave of giggles ran through the crowd as they all looked down at the boy that nao had just insulted. what they didn't know, however, was that his remark was directed at the snide girl and her posse. the girl, satisfied to think the host had taken her side, took a step forward with a grin spread across her lips. but nao was not amused. he moved closer, his face darkening, eyes burning with rage. " you're really going to harass my staff over a simple mistake. that's sickenly pathetic. you need to leave. " the grin faded in an instant, replaced with wide eyes and drooped shoulders. the crowd fell silent, all in awe that nao would defend a service worker instead of his own.' the girl was shocked at this point, taking a staggered step back from the towering male. hushed voices of confusion and digust came from the crowd that had gathered around the scene. a feeling of regret nipped at nao as he realized the damage his reputation was taking for standing up for the poor boy. taking another glance at the ground, and the poor boy with tears falling from his face only fueled his anger.

" you... you're defending him!? do you even know who i am? " she spat out, shock twisting into anger and embarassment as the crowd only grew around them. whispers and even soon louder voices of surprise and hostility filled the balcony, but nao wasn't fazed. " at this point, it doesn't matter. get the hell out. " the girl, still shocked, took a moment before spitting out curses, leaving with steam coming out of her ears and a group of friends following. but nao had other things on his mind now. he glanced to taiyo. " taiyo, are you hurt? " nao quietly asked, still emanating an aura of wrath.

his eyes skimmed the crowd of mostly repulsed partygoers. at this point, there was no turning back. " come on. you need to get clean. " waiting a moment for taiyo to get onto his feet, he turned──the crowd breaking as if on cue──and moved past all the people to make it up the stairs. he had only gotten one nice shirt for taiyo, so in the meantime, he could let the other borrow something until the party died down. nao paused once he made it to his own door, concern not evident on his face, but strangely pinned on his mind.

[quiche cat!]

as taiyo sat slumped on the ground, helplessly wringing out small sections of his shirt and biting the insides of his cheeks to keep any more tears from leaking, the crowd around him suddenly hushed. the housemaid noticed this sudden change in volume and reluctantly pried his eyes off the red stains, drawing them up to the last person he wanted to see right now: nao. just the sight of the rich man that had bought him this nice outfit, which was now trashed, sent him over the edge. his face was damp within a second, and no matter how hard he willed his tear ducts to stop, the tears just kept coming.

"pathetic." nao's statement didn't help in the least. of course, taiyo thought it was directed at him, and his sobs ceased out of pure surprise. had he heard that right? pathetic? well, the man wasn't wrong. as a matter of fact, nao was absolutely right: taiyo was pathetic for not being able to serve drinks, pathetic for bumping into so many people, pathetic for not watching where he was going, and pathetic for getting this gifted shirt dirty. but, in the back of his mind, he wondered if it had only been him that grew to like the others company. it had only been a few weeks, after all... maybe he was confusing friendship with gratitude, or with their master-maid relationship. maybe because they lived together, taiyo was thinking too much into nao's unwilling offering of a room in his mansion. as he pondered, his head began to ache something fierce.

the scene that unfolded before him was less than satisfactory. although the witch deserved to be kicked out, and it was a relief that nao hadn't been angry at him, taiyo was worried about the tenseness emitted by the onlookers. defending someone as low as a maid—and a poor one, at that—would surely punch a hole in his esteemed reputation, and that was something that taiyo couldn't stand. but, being the coward he was, his throat closed up before he had a chance to think of how to defend the man. there was nothing he, a no-class no-life, could do to defend a high-class high-life. allowing this realization to settle in, taiyo obeyed his beckon, pushing himself to his feet and feebly making his way through the crowd with his head down, tailing nao.

the housemaid had clutched the stair railing to prevent a humiliating accidental descent, only relaxing once they'd reached the top of the stairs and then nao's door. he was going to break rule two again, but that wasn't the most pressing matter right now. as soon as the door shut behind him, taiyo tugged his shirt off, running into the bathroom and immediatly running it under cold water. what was water going to do by itself? nothing—he'd need some laundry detergent or dish soap in order to even attempt to get the stains out—but this was the first thing that came to mind. after the sink was full to the brim, the boy plugged it and fully submerged the shirt before rushing back into the main room, not thinking anything about his bare upper half. "I'm sorry-- I need to get stuff. I mean, soap. detergent. sorry--" and with that, taiyo continued on past nao towards the door, hell-bent on going back out there to get some cleaning supplies.

while nao and taiyo were upstairs shouta had followed the witch and her gang to make sure they'd left the premises, glaring at them through such slitted eyes that if looks could kill, the girls would all be long gone. he casually sauntered back into the house in high spirits—mostly because those girls were a good riddance. toxic people were better off out of a mansion rather than in it. most of the partygoers had made their way off the balcony and had formed small clusters to gossip with ease, but the vibe was more chilled than earlier. knowing he had to fix this, for the sake of his number one and number two loves, shouta gracefully clambered on top of the grand piano and cleared his throat. upon receiving virtually no acknowledgement, he resorted to his wealth to lighten the mood: "ahem! drinks on me, sweethearts~!" and although the drinks were free to begin with, the people seemed content with this bold man's remark and cheered in response, grabbing the cups nearest them and downing them as fast as they could. shouta believed it was his charm that worked wonders since he was, after all, irresistible~

[miss kobayashi]

nao walked into the room, moving directly towards his closet. he sifted through his tops until he found one that he hadn't worn for a long time──it was fairly small on him to begin with──pulling it from it's hanger and turning around. but poor boy wasn't waiting as he expected, hearing only the faint running water from the other room and a splash that he could only suspect was taiyo washing his shirt. he had always thrown away clothes that were too stained (although most of the time he put lot's of effort into making sure he wouldn't spill), so the concept of washing stained clothes was new to him. " poor boy. " he called to taiyo, getting no response in return. a moment later, the housemaid returned, only shockingly bare, and nao's eyes widened for a moment, despite the other not fazed about being shirtless in front of him.

cute was the first word to come to mind, nao cursing himself internally for having that word come across at all. after a moment of staring looking at the other for too long, he turned his attention to the ground, faintly clearing his throat. thankfully, the other was too focused on other things to probably have noticed that nao was watching." poor boy. " he called again while the other was moving towards the door. it was no use. taiyo just wasn't listening to him. and there was no way he was going to let taiyo leave this room without a shirt on. he wasn't going to let anyone see, because it wasn't appropriate attire for a maid, nao finally insisted.

" taiyo. " nao finally said, just before the other had made it out the door, his voice louder and tone sharper. realizing it might've sounded like he was scolding the other for leaving, his features softened. was that really what all this was about? did taiyo really think that nao would be angry from the shirt to the point that he would break down crying in front of all those people? had he been so cruel to the point that taiyo was so torn over a shirt? nao felt a slight drop in his stomach, guilt prodding at him while he tried to convince the other to stay. " don't bother cleaning it. i can get you another shirt if you're that upset about it. " he offered, holding out the spare shirt he had held in his hands.

[quiche cat!]

nao was absolutely correct: taiyo paid no attention to the others lingering gaze, and paid no mind to the fact that he seemed a tad bit flustered after realizing that he had been staring at the shirtless maid. the boy was too focused on what he could do to remove the stain, but if it had been any other time, he would've flushed bright red and wrapped his arms around his bare chest in a shameful attempt to hide himself. even as nao called out his name—well, his nickname, which he'd learned to respond to as if it were his birth name—taiyo kept on unconsciously ignoring him, reaching out to twist the door knob and venture back into the hallway. what a man would do for some detergent!

"taiyo." the sharp voice from behind caused taiyo to freeze in his tracks, his grip on the door handle loosening until his hand fell to his side. was he in trouble? as if suddenly awakened from a dream—or a nightmare, considering how frantic and unsettled he felt—taiyo slowly turned around, bracing himself for an angry rich man, but was shocked to find just the opposite. it was hard to put his finger on the exact expression on nao's face, but it was definitely nothing close to rage, and this both confused and relieved taiyo. his shoulders, which he'd subconsciously tensed up upon hearing nao use his actual name, began to relax. "but I... I ruined it, and it was a gift. from you." "so why aren't you mad at me?" "so I need to clean it--" the boy began, cutting himself off as he caught sight of the shirt being proffered to him. being the crybaby he was, tears pricked at eyes once he looked up at nao. "mr. maruyada, I'm so sorry. because of me, all those people..." his feelings got the best of him, and with a sob, he took hold of the shirt with shaking hands. now he was thinking about that darned ring, and how undeserving he was of nao's sudden kindness.

"why did you do that?" the boy sniveled as he inquired about being saved by the rich man, rubbing the shirt's soft fabric with his thumbs. it sort of just came out, without thinking, like what usually happened. but really, just a little while ago, nao wouldn't have batted an eyelash at the pathetic housemaid on the ground. once he realized that he'd voiced his thoughts, which he hadn't even known he'd been having, he dropped the shirt onto the ground, eyes snapping back up to nao's. "no. I didn't mean to say-- don't answer me. that was uncalled for, I'm really sorry!" taiyo insisted, crouching and scrambling to pick up the shirt before it miraculously got dirty. curse his foul mouth that said the wrong things at the wrong time—next, he'd be bringing up mukami, for all he knew! and then blatantly admitting to seeing, and losing, the ring!!