#mochius

Living in Japan with an enormous appetite is a lot harder than it seems. Kagami observed that not too many people had appetites like his so it came as a surprise when he discovered a new restaurant, just a few blocks from his place, that served unlimited pasta.

Unlimited pasta. Kagami almost drools at the thought of it. Sure, burgers were nice and a staple to his diet but pasta… Pasta is delicious . He makes plans to check out the new restaurant, silently hoping as he did that they gave out unlimited breadsticks too, like this one American-Italian restaurant chain in the States he kinda misses.

He makes plans to go by himself the next weekend. It wasn't that Kagami didn't have anyone to invite to dinner with; he had a friend or two who was always down to try out new restaurants around town. Sometimes, Kagami just wants to eat and relax by himself. And what better way to relax than to go on an eat all you can pasta eating spree?

A week later, Kagami makes his way to the pasta buffet. He's been so excited about eating his fill of pasta that he'd actually literally dreamt of eating plates and plates of pasta in his sleep, twice!! But he wakes up with a small line of drool dribbling down his chin and is sorely disappointed that it still wasn't the weekend.

No matter. Kagami will have his unlimited pasta day. He will stuff himself with all that carbohydrate foodstuff.

And there he was. Finally in front of the restaurant. Kagami could practically hear the gates of heaven open and a choir of angels sing as he steps foot in the doorway. The scent of pesto and garlic waft in the air as he walked inside, carefully keeping what he hoped to be a passive looking face as he follows a timid looking guy (who keeps apologizing to him for some reason?) to a table with a nice window view.

Kagami almost eagerly reaches for the menu and studies it, trying to figure out which pasta combination would give his palate the maximum satisfaction possible. He’ll probably be ready to order in a few minutes.

Aomine’s idea of a good time was definitely not spending his free time waiting on tables at Satsuki’s great aunt’s restaurant. Well, he gets tips and a relatively decent wage and he needed the money so he really shouldn’t complain. Satsuki already so graciously used her connections to find him this job just so he can afford to buy new Jordans. He should probably (definitely) work harder.

His eyes wander over to his coworker, Ryou, who was timidly sitting down this one guy who looked like he was trying to not to look too excited. Tall, nice body, probably plays a sport too, he muses to himself, shamelessly staring at the redhead, who was staring so intently at their pasta all you can promo mechanics menu.

He’s kinda cute, he muses, low key wondering why the said cute person was dressed so nicely just to eat pasta. Maybe he was on a date? Aomine wrinkles his nose. That was possible. The redhead looked a little too excited to eat pasta and he doubts anyone can look this excited just because of pasta. Now that Aomine thought of it, the more he looked at that customer’s face, the cuter he looked in his eyes.

… He’s really cute. And gorgeous.

Aomine turns his attention back to his tables and mentally shakes his head to clear his head. Well, it wasn’t any business of his, prying into this handsome stranger’s life so he brushes it off and sits a few more people who arrive soon after. Monies before honeys.

But Aomine can’t help but notice… It’s been an hour, some of his tables have already vacated and were replaced by new customers and handsome redhead-san is still poring over the menu. Ryou hasn’t taken his order yet? Aomine frowns. This would be such an odd mistake for the other boy to make. Ah, he sees the said boy approaching the table, notepad in hand, expression apologetic and anxious.he passes by to clear one other newly vacated table near them and listens in on their exchange.

“ A-ah, I’m sorry but are you ready to order now, sir?” Ryou asks, lightly waving his hand to catch the other’s attention. The guy was too engrossed (or was he?) with reading the menu that he almost didn’t realize Ryou was there in front of him.

“O- oh. Uh, sure…” Huh, he looks a little downhearted, Aomine observes. Wait, his date hasn’t even arrived yet. Brow creasing, Aomine wipes at the table furiously. Was he being stood up? Why would anyone stand this beautiful man up?

Soon enough, Aomine hears Ryou confirm the other’s answers in a timid voice and he scurries away to get the orders done. He grunts softly, still in denial that the cutest person he’s seen in the past few months was possibly stood up by his date. Aomine raises his head up and notices some of the other employees looking at the redhead and seemingly whispering to each other while sneaking glances at him.

He finishes up clearing the table and stands straight, turns to face the guy and says, “Uh, everything doing okay here?” Bright red eyes look at him in surprise and Aomine himself was surprised too. He’s more beautiful up close.

“Ah, yeah. Just had my order taken, actually.” He has a nice voice; it was a voice Aomine wouldn’t mind listening to for hours on end.

Aomine nods, stalling for time. “I see. That’s good.” He can’t seem to ask the other for his name or if he was waiting for company hence the delay in him ordering so Aomine just awkwardly gestures to the kitchen with his shoulder. “Well, I gotta get back to work now. Hope you enjoy the food.”

The guys smiles at him and Aomine feels like he’s been blessed with the most beautiful sight he’s ever seen. “Thanks. You too.”

And Aomine ambles away, hands full of dirty plates as he ponders, You too?

A hot waiter just asked him how he was and told him to enjoy his food. Kagami, like the most eloquent person in the world, responded with “You too.”

You too? Are you kidding me? He stares at his napkin and mentally berates himself. Wasn’t this sort of like the thing he and Tatsuya read on the internet and laughed at? That’s it, he’s never gonna laugh at people’s stories of getting tongue tied when faced with someone attractive.

Kagami’s so embarrassing. He’d repeatedly told the apologetic waiter who keeps trying to take his order that he wasn’t ready to order yet so many times just because he couldn’t choose between pasta types and sauces. There was so much pasta combinations he could think of but he can only choose two. It really wasn’t all you can eat pasta but eat all you can pasta but with limited combinations.There’s also the fact that there were no free breadsticks.  He’s a little heartbroken about it but no matter. He’s gonna make the best of this minor setback.

But again, back to the point. He can’t believe he just went on and made himself sound so dumb in front of a hot waiter. Kagami wishes the chair he’s on melts into the ground as it swallows him whole.

“S- sorry for the wait. Your order’s here.”

Oh. Never mind then. Kagami’s melodrama can wait.

Kagami raises his head up and his eyes practically shine at the plate of breathtakingly beautiful pasta set before him. He mutters his thanks to his waiter, starts eating and at the first bite, Kagami pauses.

He doesn’t shed any tears but he feels like he could. Rubbing non-existent dust from his eye, Kagami silently thanks all the deities he can think of that he was lucky enough to be born in the era of eat all you can promos.

He had been shamelessly sneaking glances at the hot redhead (he should really find a name to call the other aside from ‘hot redhead’) since he cleared the tables around the other. Is he crying? Aomine's heart aches for this handsome, stood up by his date so now he's probably going to binge eat his woes away stranger.

“Ryou.” Aomine calls out just as the said boy passes by him. “Table 5 took his time in ordering, huh?”

“Huh? S- sorry, he said he needed more time to pick out his orders,” Ryou answers him. Then he adds in a timid voice, “He looked really troubled while looking at the menu though.”

Aomine nods and glances back at the redhead and is surprised to see the manager, Imayoshi, beside him making idle chit chat as he refills the plate.

Even the boss from hell got concerned for him. They both straighten up as the said boss fro--, uh boss walks towards their direction. “Sakurai-kun, could you bring some bread sticks to table 5? Tell him it's on the house.”

Ryou scurries to the kitchen and Aomine looks at Imayoshi, bewildered. “You never give free breadsticks away.”

“I can though.” Imayoshi gives him one of those creepy smiles Aomine can't seem to get used to. “Anyway, Aomine-kun, tend to your tables. You can make eyes at table 5 later during your break if he's still here.”

So Imayoshi noticed him staring. He feels his cheeks heat up slightly. “I'm not making eyes,” he grumbles, turning his back away from the said table and going to the kitchen to pick up some orders.

Again, after the redhead practically inhaled, yes inhaled ( he’d been keeping watch; the guy was like a gorgeous black hole on legs), a few more platefuls of pasta, he passes by the guy as he served his own tables. Aomine takes a moment to look behind him, good! Imayoshi’s in his office. Then he speaks to the other.

“So how’s the food?”

Kagami stops mid-chew and immediately answers, mouth full, like a dumbass, “‘Ishh good.”

… Crap.

He swallows and coughs awkwardly, eyes flitting sideways. “I mean, it’s good.”

The waiter tries to stifle a laugh. Oh no, he’s cute when he smiles. “Glad to know then.”

His brain tries to work quickly, thinking of what else to say before this guy runs off to do his work again and Kagami sees that the other was wearing a nametag. Why didn't I notice that before?

“Ah, yeah… Oh, can I get another plate, uh, Aomine?”

He notices Aomine kind of pauses for a moment, eyes widening for a fraction of a second, before immediately turning around and waving his hand at Kagami nonchalantly. “You got it.”

“Thanks!” he calls out at the waiter, feeling a little giddy at the feel of saying the other’s name out loud. He has a crush on the waiter, Kagami realizes and he finds himself not minding it. It’s not like it’s bothering anyone but me anyways.

Aomine returns, plate full of pasta and with a little added bonus. Kagami glances at a pair of huge meatballs on top of his mountain of spaghetti and tells him, “Ah, I didn’t order any meatball add-ons.”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s on me.” Aomine says as he shrugs.

Kagami blinks. “What for real?”

“Yeah for real.” The waiter frowns. “You don’t like meat balls?”

He quickly shakes his head. “No, no, no, I do like them. Meatballs.” Kagami gives him a sheepish look. “It’s just that I already got some breadsticks for free earlier. I kinda feel bad for getting so much free stuff.”

“...You’re the first guy to not immediately grab the free complimentary food we sometimes bring out. I’m kinda impressed.” Aomine grins at him in a way that Kagami can only describe as wolfish and places the pasta, with the meatballs, on his table. “Take it. It’s not like we can take food back into the kitchen anyways.”

Kagami feels as if he was being spoiled by this place. What did he do to deserve this extra service? He gratefully looks up at Aomine and smiles at him graciously. “Thanks.”

It was just one word, one little word , but Aomine’s insides flipped as his heart starts pounding loud against his chest.

Fuck. Aomine’s so whipped. This was just a fresh, no longer than an hour or two crush though, he’s had crushes on customers before but none of them made him feel like this, dumb and smitten beyond words. It’s so dumb there’s no way this wasn’t something worth exploring.

At that moment, Aomine’s become determined to find out if this… whatever this thing was, was something he could pursue. It’s a dumb conclusive solution to his little crush but hey. He’s a big boy now; if it doesn’t work out then whatever.

He glances at his watch for a moment and tells the other, “Uh, so I kinda have a break coming up in a few minutes. Would you mind if i joined you here? To keep you company or something?”

The redhead looks surprised. Aomine doesn’t blame him; he’s surprised himself. “Sure, if you don’t mind sharing a table with someone stuffing his face full of pasta,” he says, sheepishly laughing.

“I don’t.” Aomine says, mentally celebrating his luck. He takes a moment to breathe before finally asking, “So, can I know your name?”

“It’s Kagami,” he grins, offering Aomine his hand. He takes it and gives it a firm shake. “It’s nice to meet you, Aomine.”

“Pleasure’s mine.” He could feel the corner of his own lips quirking upwards. “Guess I’ll finish my shift. Be back in a few minutes.”

“See you in a bit then.”

And Aomine practically speedwalks into the kitchen as he ignores Imayoshi giving him a judging Look and Ryou squinting his eyes at him, possibly wondering if Aomine’s just stolen his table from beneath his nose.

“Not a word. I’m off my shift.” Aomine hisses at the two of them. Imayoshi smirks knowingly and just waves him off while Ryou begins to start apologizing for staring and thinking Aomine’s out to steal his tip from table 5. None of that bothers him, surprisingly. He's sure he'll be teased by the staff the next day but he doesn't really care.

Aomine punches out in record time, grabs his free meal for the day and saunters up to Kagami's table. “Hey.”

Kagami grins at him, red sauce on his chin. “Hey yourself. I see you have food.”

“Yeah, perks of working here I guess. You have something on your chin.”

His grin turns into a frown and Kagami tries wiping the sauce off his chin. “Did I get it?”

Aomine answers, “Not really. A little more to the left.”

Wipe wipe. “How about now?”

“Just a bit more.”

Wipe wipe. “Now?”

“Hold on, let me just…” He pats a napkin on the spot of pasta sauce. “There.” Aomine murmurs, feeling a little embarrassed he has the shamelessness to actually wipe sauce off an almost perfect stranger's chin.

“Thanks.” Kagami looks a little red.

Coughing awkwardly, Aomine takes a sip of water, racking his brain for something to un-awkwardify this situation. “Uh, so. They didn’t show up huh?”

Aomine was sitting in front of him, eating his own plate of pasta. It kinda feels like a date. But also not really. Kagami was a bit distracted, admiring Aomine from across the table as he ate his nth plate of pasta. He missed what the other was saying and blinked. “Sorry, what didn’t show up?”

“Your date. I mean, the person you were waiting for.”

Kagami half-chokes on his pasta. He starts coughing terribly for a few moments and gratefully takes the cup Aomine offers him a few minutes into his coughing fit. “I- I don’t have a date. Or person I was waiting for.”

“Eh?” Aomie’s eyes widen and he frowns. “But you took so long to order. And looked really excited coming here…”

Did he take that long? He laughs sheepishly and looks away. “I, uh… kinda was trying to decide on pasta combinations and was trying to figure it out. And in case you didn’t notice… I really like food so coming here was kind of a big deal for me...”

He’s so embarrassed yet at the same time also extremely amused; it was the first time his gluttony was interpreted this way. It was almost like some sort of rom-com plot.

Aomine became quiet. “... yeah, that makes more sense, I guess.” “Aomine, did you think I got stood up?”

The other’s silence confirms his thoughts. Kagami lets out a little chuckle. “Are you serious?”

“Not my fault I thought of that. Who the fuck dresses nicely to eat unlimited pasta anyways?” Aomine frowns, looking much like a child who had just been proven wrong about the existence of the Easter bunny. “I even got you sorry you got stood up by your date, they’re a shitty person meatballs.”

“Well, I did say that you really didn’t have to… Sorry about that.” he murmurs, scratching his head. They share a moment of silence, Aomine’s pout slowly disappears and he leans towards Kagami.

“Make it up to me if you’re really sorry.”

It was Kagami’s turn to frown this time. Was he supposed to pay for those meatballs? Buy him meatballs? “How?”

Is Aomine really going to be extremely shameless and say something really dumb to Kagami?

You bet he definitely is.

“Go out on a date with me.” Aomine says, with confidence he sort of doesn’t feel. He tries to read Kagami’s expression; the other just froze and is currently staring at him.

When he finally unfreezes, Kagami speaks. “A date? You mean here? And right now?”

“Wha- no! I mean like a real date, not a date here in this dumb place. Tomorrow, if possible.” He hears someone clearing their throat and both their heads turn to see Imayoshi looking at Aomine disapprovingly.

“I mean,” Aomine coughs, “Not here, in the best restaurant ever since the best boss ever might get inconvenienced by me trying to win you over.”

Imayoshi raises an eyebrow and waves at them. He notices Kagami wave at him back. Ugh. Too cute.

“So? You wanna go on a date with me?” He’s suddenly struck with the realization that he had just literally asked this almost perfect stranger just because he found him cute. Aomine’s done worse things drunk but for some reason, he’s extremely nervous. His hands were clammy and it’s taking all his willpower to keep his leg still.

It felt like hours before Kagami answers. Cheeks slightly pink, he laughs and nods his head. “Yeah, I think that would be great.”

He finds the corners of his lips twitching upwards. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Kagami leans in slightly, grin on his face. “I shouldn’t be ungrateful the the nice guy who gave me sorry your date is shit meatballs.”

Aomine sighs and relaxes. “That’s good to know.”