#plug!choso

Once again your usual pick up had rolled around, the prospect of a new strain and a new book had you pretty much skipping up to his car. Choso noticed the obvious pep in your step as he tracked you in his rear view mirror, luckily he managed to get his smile under control by the time you got to the door.

“Busy day?” You joked hopping into the front seat of his car, considering he’d messaged you ‘15 minutes’ almost an hour ago.

“I know I know,” He held up his hands in surrender the same smile as before threatening to break loose, “Honestly I should get another driver.”

Choso has to hold in a laugh as he watches you physically shudder reaching for your wallet at the implication of his comment.

“Ok the idea of picking up from someone else? I take it back I’ll wait all the fake 15 minutes you need.” You said laughing as you handed him the cash.

He tries to ignore how that simple statement made him feel so he elected to remain quiet as he sorted through his centre console for your bags.

“Well let me know how this one is, it’s the first time I’ve got it so I wanna make sure it’s alright.” He knew realistically even if every other customer hated it, he’d get it back in depending on your opinion.

“You got it Kamo, see you in two weeks,” You closed up your bag and got out of the car and then the same as always you turn around placing your hand on the top of the door and duck your face back into the door frame and smiling at him in a way that leaves him parked for a good 5 minutes after you’re gone, “Stay safe, yeah?”

“Yeah.” It barely above a whisper but it was the most he could manage, and with that you closed his door and walked back in the direction you came.

The more time went on the more he began to look forward to your routine visits. Some part of him wanted to be late just to hear you make a joke about the time but every time you messaged he skipped whoever was already waiting to deliver to you.

However there was something already different about this pick up, in the 8 months he’d seen you your schedule never changed whether that was the amount or the time between visits. Now this time you’d texted him asked for nearly double? He read it twice and was still tempted to message confirming the amount until he was forcefully stopped.

“You’re a dealer questioning money just because you like the girl?”

“I never said—”

“Shut the fuck up and get in the car you’re giving me a headache.” Sukuna grumbled from the couch as Choso rambled away his problems towards him. Sukuna hadn’t the faintest clue why Choso would come to him of all people with his issues.

The confusion of the entire thing continued as he pulled into his regular spot near your street and waited for you to walk up. He didn’t even see you in his mirrors before his door opened and for a moment he frowned thinking you’d sent a friend to pick up instead. That was until you turned around and he got a sight at that same blindingly bright smile.

“You changed your hair.” His voice was a mix of shock and awe, he couldn’t even stop the statement before he tried but he at least held the grin back. There was something in his tone of voice that took you back a little, you felt heat begin to rise in your cheeks and you quickly ruffled for the cash in your bag to avert your eyes.

“Yeah, got it done yesterday. It’s quite different, whatcha think?” You held the cash out towards him. Now it was his turn to avert his gaze from you.

“It looks great. It really suits you,” He began to count all the bags and pass them to you one by one. He looked between them and your hair before deciding to push his luck “You got an event going on or something?”

“Oh yeah! It’s my birthday this weekend. Not a massive blow out, excuse the pun, just a sesh with a few friends.”

“Damn, well happy birthday for this weekend! Hang on a minute,” He said putting his hand up to stop you moving as he grabbed his bag from the backseat and rummaged through it pulling out what looks like a package of sweets. “It’s not exactly a cake but we got a couple of bags of gummies to trial before selling them. Consider it a birthday freebie you just have to let me know what it’s like.”

“Oh shit, are you sure?” You said still holding the bag unsure. He nods quickly but smoothly in response and the smile you gave him in response nearly melted him on the spot. “That’s so sweet, thank you.”

“Yeah no problem enjoy your birthday.”

“Will do Kamo. Stay safe, yeah?” Getting out of the car and giving Choso your usual farewell hit him a little harder this time for reasons he couldn’t figure out or was maybe choosing not too.

By the time your next usual pick up was due he wasn’t actually expecting you to message but he would be lying if he wasn’t glad to see you. However this time when you got in his car you handed him a Tupperware box before you even sat down.

“What..is this?”

“Cake!” Your voice singing with enthusiasm “I wanted to give you a slice as a thanks for the gummies for my birthday.”

“You saved me a slice of your birthday cake?” The wonder was evident in Choso’s voice, the gesture had him genuinely dumbfounded and you could read it on his face. He knew you could read him like a book from the knowing look on your face.

“Oh god no that was about a week ago, that thing would be stale as hell by now,” You laughed until you watched the expression on his face falter a little, “They were both made by me though so it makes them technically related.”

“You bake?” He asked the question and then a silence hung between them as a smirk broke out on your face, “Excuse the pun.” He added after finally catching on.

The sound of your laugh sung through his car in a way that made any other sound seem boring. It wasn't even a particularly funny joke but the combination of Choso missing the joke and still attempting it was so endearing couldn't help yourself. As the burst of laughter slowed down you remember he'd actually asked a question so you began to nod your head in response.

“It's not your type of baked but I hope it's good anyway. You're not allergic to anything right? I probably should've checked first.” Mumbling the last line to yourself you began to avoid eye contact cursing that you didn't even consider it at the time. He began to shake his head in response but noticed you couldn't see him with your avoidant gaze.

“No ill be good this is great thank you, you'll make my cousin jealous he loves sweets of any kind.” Choso let the smile break out freely this time.

“Anytime Kamo, just let me know what you think yeah?”

The only response you got this time was a small nod, as he carefully placed the box in the bottom of his bag. He moved with such care you think you’d handed him a live bomb and not a simple slice of cake. Once it was safely away you took that as your queue, grabbing your bag and wishing him farewell with your ever constant ‘Stay safe, yeah?’

After that he ignored every customer that he’d told a time too and went straight back to his house, upon arrival he was met with very obvious confusion considering he was back hours earlier than usual.

“The fuck?”

“Is he okay?”

“How am I supposed to know that?”

He ignored the looks and murmurs behind him and bee-lined straight to the kitchen. Slinging his bag onto the table he began to dig through the drawers for some cutlery not even noticing Yuji following him into the room. For once in his like Yuji stood in perfect silence just observing, with his lack of sound and Choso’s laser focus as the other brother swung back around looking he nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden presence.

“Is everything ok?”

“Why are you stood there so silently!” Choso’s voice came out higher and more panicked than he meant it too before he coughed and placed a hand on his chest to calm down. “I’m good I’m just looking for a fork.”

The expression on Yuji’s face was so unreadable the silence that befell them wasn’t one Choso could bear. While in Yuji’s mind he wanted to laugh at how much he managed to scare Choso without trying but he was also slightly worried for his mental state with how erratic he was so he chose to just repeat his original question.

“Is everything ok?”

“You’ve already asked that.”

“And got no response.”

Choso let out a huge sigh, still partly out of breath from the adrenaline spike of being jump scared, and reached into his bag. Once again he was so careful you would this it was explosive, but it was just a tupperwear box. That however still told Yuji nothing so he chose to continue to stand staring in almost judgemental silence.

“Someone gave me something to try and I’m hungry…” He let a beat go by before he decided that wasn’t explanation enough, for some reason, “So I’m trying it now. Then I won’t be hungry so I’ll go back out.”

“Totally not an over explanation but ok. Who did you get it from?”

“A customer.”

“Why would a customer give you something?”

“I don’t know, as a thank you?” Choso was trying so hard to remain neutral but even thinking about you was causing the heat to rise in his cheeks.

“What is it?”

“Cake.”

“You got cake from a customer? What did you do?”

“I’m sorry did you change majors to police work what is this an interrogation now?” He knew he had to change the subject soon, in all honesty he just wanted Yuji to leave so he could try the cake in peace. With the sudden attitude change Yuji just spun on his heels to exit the kitchen leaving Choso finally alone. However that wouldn’t last long considering he could hear the conversation from the living room.

“Dude a customer gave him cake and now he’s being weird, I don’t know.” Yuji grumbled as he audibly fell back into a chair.

“Why the fuck would a customer give him something?”

“That’s what I asked!”

“Wait,” The minute he heard Sukuna sit up he knew his peace was almost over again. Sukuna raised his volume to shout and they’d be luckily if the neighbours didn’t hear at that range “Is this that fucking girl from 2 weeks ago?

“Huh?

“You better not have given her something for f—”

“A girl?!”

Just like that Yuji’s figure had appeared back into the kitchen staring at Choso, he moved so fast and smoothly it was as close to teleportation as a human could get. However he had no brain power in between here and there so all he could do, again, was repeat himself.

“A girl?” Thankfully he remembered to at least adjust his volume.

“Yes a girl, I wished her happy birthday so she gave me a slice of cake.” Even as he’s trying to be chill and make it sound as casual as possible he can feel the blood beating around his body quicker each moment.

“She saved you some cake just for saying happy birthday?” Yuji knew he was being a little shit because he could see as Choso’s face got closer to the colour of a tomato with each passing moment thinking about her.

“No, that would have gone bad apparently,” That was a sentence he couldn’t disguise his smile at but he managed to get it back under control just as quick as it appeared, “She made both so she saved me a slice of this one.”

“She made a whole other cake to give you a slice?” Yuji kept pressing but Choso thought that was ridiculous. There was no way you baked a whole cake just to give away one slice. You must just choose to bake often enough that you had a fresh slice to give him.

“Now why would she do that?” Little did he know…

“Now why would you do that?” Your room mate Shoko’s voice called from the living room as you sat on the balcony smoking, and also enjoying a slice of cake.

“Do what?”

“Bake another cake just to give a slice to a guy?” The balcony door opened as she joined you on the chairs with her own joint in hand.

“I always bake I don’t know what you mean.” You weren’t fully lying you tried to bake as often as you can, it’s a fun hobby and it’s definitely made more entertaining by doing it stoned.

“Yeah like once a month, you decided to do it twice in two weeks because…?” She let the silence hang with the implication. You knew she saw right through you, she had since the first day you met and you wanted to subtly ask if she smoked, at this point you had to avoid the question.

“Are you really complaining about having freshly baked AND decorated cake for after we smoke?”

“I didn’t complain at the gummies either I’m just saying.” She didn’t even try to hide the shit eating grin on her face.

“You’ve not said anything. You’ve simply stated I’ve baked quicker than usual, gave a slice out as a thank you for a free pack of gummies we had.” You took a longer drag than usual as the silence hung you could see her just staring at your profile.

“You’ve got a cru—”

“Sorry I can’t hear you there’s too much smoke around here.” You spoke and you exhaled, purposely pushing it in her direction so it hung between you both for barely a second before escaping into the night air.

She should’ve been annoyed you cut her off, and the fact you blew the smoke at her but the joke was funny so she couldn’t help but chuckle at your obvious diversion. It was only made funnier as you fully exhaled and a moment of silence passed before you burst into a coughing fit, the long drag finally showing you why that is not how you smoke normally.

You both stayed there just laughing like a feedback loop the longer you laughed the louder it seemed to get until you were both nearly cackling on the balcony. At this point you didn’t know what you were exactly laughing at and honestly that was the funniest part. Finally it started to die as you both ran out of breath but the occasional giggle escaped either of you.

“Are you ever going to do anything?” She wasn’t letting you get away from this conversation and the quicker you accepted it the better off you’d be.

“Probably not, can you imagine if it went wrong? It’s like the idea of fucking up a friendship, a good dealer is so hard to find.” You said pouting, in reality you were one in loads of people he dealt too and everyone had nice things to say so it probably didn’t mean anything from me. All Shoko could do was stare at you in disbelief, because yeah a dealer giving out a full bag of gummies was so casual you’re so right what could she be thinking.

“Ok you don’t need to phrase it like that.” You said scoffing in fake outrage. She continued to stare in confusion until she realised her inside thoughts were outside words there.

“Ah… sorry slip of the tongue. I’m still right though. You can’t go about your entire life not doing things because it ‘might not work’” The usual tone back in her voice made her sound so serious despite the half lidded bloodshot eyes.

“What would I even say?” The question left you before you could even process it, of course you were thinking about it but the idea of staring was the main block. At what was basically a full admission of Shoko being correct her posture immediately sat up as she took a long, inquisitive drag before making you wait in painstaking silence as she thought.

“Ask how the cake was.”

It was such an obvious answer you physically slapped your hand across your face in embarrassment. What if you couldn’t actually flirt with him? Shoko could see you mentally spiralling so she decided to just lay out a game plan.

“Ok lover girl calm down, here’s the plan. Wait a day, maybe two actually yeah two. Wait TWO days, then a simple ‘Hey, how was the cake?’” At this idea you immediately panicked, what if he didn’t even like cake? Or worse what if he didn’t like your cooking specifically, once again Shoko could see the inner turmoil, “He’s obviously going to love it because you bake like nobodies business. Then you say something like ‘Open to suggestions if you have a favourite dessert.’ Then you have a reason to bring him another dessert.”

“How long have you been thinking through that?”

“Honestly that was off the dome.”

“Wow… smooth.. you’re girlfriends so lucky.” You grumbled to yourself while you giggled taking another drag.

“I heard that!” Another voice spoke from the other side of the glass door reminding you you’re having a very private conversation in a very unprivate place.

“Stop eavesdropping!”

“You brought me into it first!” Utahime laughed at your obvious distress, you knew she wasn’t being serious but you still stuck your tongue out in retaliation. Soon after the door opened and she joined you both on the balcony, a front row seat to misery was always entertaining.

“Ok.. two days. I can do that.” You said more to yourself as you sat back in your chair letting the music from the apartment wash out onto the balcony and over the current atmosphere. You could do wait two days to send the text, you don’t usually see him for a fortnight anyway. Your ,or should you say Shoko’s, plan went out the window when your phone made a sound for a text notification. You stared at the phone in confusion as everyone you normally text is sat in front of you so you immediately picked the phone up.

“Oh my god he texted me.” Your voice cut through the soft atmosphere it almost sounded like the music itself had stopped.

“What?!”

“Already?”

“What does it say?”

You couldn’t even move so Shoko took the phone out of your hand to read which you didn’t resist at all. When she didn’t react either Utahime then took the phone herself to read, she was the first one to actually verbalise anything.

“He liked the cake!” She squealed swinging her hands in the air in celebration.

“Didn’t she JUST go see him?”

“Did he go straight home to try it?”

“And he messaged straight away? Ohhhhhh I see you dealer man.” Utahime started chuckling at Shoko’s comment and all of the heat went straight to your cheeks as everything settled at once.

“You got a plan B?” You said laughing out of nerves as you reach out to take your phone back. Shoko just shook her head as if to say ‘stick to the plan’ and so you did. Your text was sent and you nearly dashed your phone off the balcony in nerves.

The text however was sent and received by the wrong brother. Turns out when Yuji sprung into 1001 questions about who you were Choso had decided to just duck and run fork and cake in hand back to his car. Unluckily for him he’d remembered everything but his phone and it took Yuji less than 0.1 second to decide what he had to do.

He immediately sent the text praising the cake, he was smart enough to avoid guessing what cake he didn’t want to fumble his brothers chance already. Yuji decided to put the phone back exactly the same knowing Choso would come back in a second after realising his mistake and would find out when she replied. He’d only taken a few steps out the kitchen before he heard the notification tone, he knew it could just be a customer but what if it wasn’t?

Trusting his gut Yuji walked back to the phone and clicked it on just to quick view the message and he almost broke the phone dropping it in disbelief.

‘I’m glad you like it! I take suggestions to try new things if you have a favourite dessert :)’

Yuji felt his hairs stand on end as a sudden breath was on the back of his neck, he twisted his head slightly to see the looming presence of his brother eyes wide staring between the phone and Yuji.

“What did you do?” His voice was quiet but panic was evident as he put the pieces together. All he could do was hand the phone back to Choso, he didn’t even know what to say to him his brain was still computing before it was eventually about to blow with excitement.

Choso grabbed the phone and immediately retreated back to the kitchen side to read it. The range of emotions he went through in the space of 10 seconds was almost in-human, the most common one he kept going back to was disbelief and that was the one he ended on.

“Why would you text her so soon I just got back.”

“She texted back just as quick.” Yuji pointed out.

“What do I even say?” He started to panic. The most texting Choso had done was with customers, is he supposed to flirt? How will she know he’s flirting from words on a screen alone?

“Do you have a favourite dessert?” Yuji went for the obvious considering it was the question she asked. Choso stood there for a good minute, eyes darting around the room as if he was trying to chase his thoughts.

“No?” Was all he ended up with.

“No?!”

“I don’t have dessert much!” Choso was at the end of his tether in panic. In the end he just sent a panic response and he actually did dash his phone away from him as it clattered along the kitchen top.

“Dude! What did you say?” Yuji’s voice went up an octave watching the phone bounce.

“I don’t know.”

“How do you not know you just?” Yuji stopped his question there and just walked over to the phone to read whatever abomination his brother just sent. Choso couldn’t tell by his reaction if it was a good text or not and he wanted the ground to swallow him.

“Dude… you can flirt!” Yuji said throwing his hand up for a high five even though Choso had no idea what he did to earn it.

Back on your balcony the screaming had resumed as you all read the response text out loud