Chapter Text
The smell of cooking food curls through the air. Nicholas isn't supposed to be that hungry - he'd already eaten an early dinner, only about an hour and a half ago, but the scent of frying onions makes his stomach growl anyway.
It's a good thing they're making way too much for two people. Once the fake date they're running for Yudai and Fuma is finished, he'll be able to split the leftovers with the rest of the kids. If they even make it that far, that is. Nicholas isn't the only one eyeing the stove hungrily.
If it weren't for Jo, standing guard over the pan without needing to say a single thing, he reckons half of it would have already disappeared.
Jo hasn't even needed to say anything. He hasn't made a threat - although Yuma sitting nearby with his eyeliner darker than usual is a little intimidating. The thought of sneakily going behind Jo's back when he's put so much effort into the stupid onions is just too mean.
"Nicholas?" Euijoo says, "Are you just standing there?"
Nicholas blinks, finally turning to look back in front of him. "Oh - you're back. We were starting to think that you'd gotten lost." He's standing in the doorway. He'd only just stood up, volunteering to go and see what was taking Euijoo so long - but had apparently only made it to the door before Euijoo had returned anyway.
Euijoo holds up a pair of kids' safety scissors in his hands, and a lumpy pencil case in the other.
"We already have pens," Nicholas says. At the kitchen table in the middle of the room, Taki is happily humming away as he kicks his feet and scrawls out a menu. There's a whole set of felt-tip pens rolling across the table beside him.
Even from this distance, Nicholas can see the sheer number of colours that have been used. It looks like Taki is only using each pen for five seconds at a time before moving onto the next. At least he's also making the effort to very carefully put the lids back on - although that does also mean that the menu, which he's been designing for the last fifteen minutes, still isn't complete.
"These are glitter gel pens," Euijoo says.
Nicholas pulls a face. "Don't encourage him. At this rate, they'll be getting the menus after they've been served their food."
He takes the pencil case from Euijoo anyway. It smells like pencil sharpenings, but it only takes a few seconds to find the colours that Taki's used the most in his drawing, and put them helpfully onto the table beside him.
Euijoo smiles at him, and Nicholas can't help himself.
"Aww," he says, leaning forward and reaching out- "Helpful Juju, how cute." He's doing it mostly on purpose - in front of all the other kids in the room - with his fingers poking lightly into Euijoo's cheeks. To Euijoo's credit, he doesn't even pull away too immediately. He just makes this cute looking face where his lips are pressed together. Nicholas can imagine a cartoon anger symbol appearing next to his head.
"Sexy juju?" He mouths - not wanting to say it out loud when they're both right next to Taki - but knowing it'll annoy Euijoo even more.
It works. Euijoo swats Nicholas' hands away. There's part of a glare in his eyes but absolutely no heat, and Nicholas can't help but laugh to himself at his expression.
"Chop chop," Yuma says, interrupting them. "We're on a time limit here."
Ever since the day they'd returned from the hospital, and they'd been caught confessing outside to each other, Yuma has started complaining when he sees Nicholas and Euijoo together. Okay - not actual complaining, but close enough.
Apparently falling in love isn't very emo. He might have been the person to tease Nicholas the most before he got with Euijoo, but now he's completely 'against' their relationship. Though that might also be because he's also fourteen years old.
(Nicholas is pretty sure he's still mostly doing it to tease them, anyway).
"We'll make it," Nicholas says, waving a hand dismissively and ignoring how Yuma pulls a face.
The rest of the kitchen is in full swing. Yuma had been helping chop the salad vegetables before he'd gotten distracted. He'd said he was only here to help out with the playlist - only quietly audible underneath the door - but he's ended up supervising the cooking team. There's a bowl beside him full of leafy greens - some grated cheese and croutons nearby for extra garnish. A tomato half-way through being cut into thick slices is abandoned on a chopping board.
Maki and Jo are at the stove, having pulled a little plastic stool over so that Maki can see properly. They're both wearing chef's hats (Nicholas has absolutely no idea where they'd gotten them from, but he's past being surprised with this house anymore) that look to be from the same set. Maki's is a little big, but Jo's ended up wearing the full-size adult one. Despite his tall height for his age and his long limbs, the hat is huge on him. It sits so far down that he keeps having to push it away from his eyes. It's also pushing his ears down, making them stick further out from his head than normal.
The scene is - Nicholas admits it - really cute.
Even with Yuma doing his little emo act off to the side, it's sweet. Maki has declared himself head chef, and seems to be surprisingly competent in the role. The three of them are working pretty well together.
Nothing is on fire yet - which is what Nicholas had actually pictured when they'd decided to run a restaurant date-night for the only two adults in the house.
The burgers they're making for the meal are also still waiting to be cooked. The meat looks a little uncomfortably pink where they're lying on the side, but Nicholas has never claimed to be an enthusiastic chef. Yuma and Jo had both protested when he'd suggested they put them on the pan early, showing what he knows. Apparently they won't take long, and it's stupid to cook them before Yudai and Fuma have even sat down.
That second comment had been from Yuma. Obviously.
Nicholas had told him that they were already sitting down. Yuma had told him that it didn't make it any less stupid, and he'd said before they got a menu. Which he definitely hadn't said, but Taki had dropped half his pens onto the ground before he could open his mouth.
Speaking of Taki, Euijoo has now settled himself into the seat beside him. They're only making one menu (the home restaurant has hit hard times, Fuma and Yudai are just going to have to share), but it's been all Taki's invested his entire concentration into for the last twenty minutes.
"That looks good," Euijoo says. "You can make it sparkly now, look."
Taki wrinkles his nose. "It's a menu, it doesn't need to be sparkly," he says, so disapprovingly that Nicholas has to quickly look away to hide his snort of laughter.
"Here's the scissors you asked for," Euijoo continues, unaffected. At least this time, Taki takes them acceptingly. He kicks his legs out a few times beneath the table, taking the menu into his hands and turning it around - holding it out judgementally and narrowing his eyes.
Then he puts the scissors down and gets right back to colouring.
It's as if Euijoo has contributed absolutely nothing. Nicholas really does have to hide his laughter with a cough this time. The noise brings some attention back to him - but this time it's just Harua. His eyes are on Nicholas since he returned to the room with Euijoo.
Just like Maki has declared himself head chef, Harua has declared himself head waiter. They must have found some aprons with the chef hats in a cupboard, because the apron that Harua's wrapped around himself is so large that he's almost drowning in it.
It's all very American and a pristine white on the front. It's not actually a waiter uniform at all, unless Japanese waiters look suspiciously like chefs, but he's not going to be the one to tell Harua that. The strips of fabric supposed to be tied together are slightly too long for Harua to do by himself.
"Help, please," he says, shuffling forwards and holding them out to Nicholas. He's attempted a decent job at it, but a behind-the-back bow is just too difficult, and all he's actually done is make a few loose knots.
Nicholas bends down and starts tying a neat bow just as he's been asked.
"Thank you," Harua says, polite as always. Then, "Taki says that you're not cute."
Okay. What on earth could that possibly mean? There's probably some little-kid leap of logic that he's missed. He gives Harua a second to expand, but he just stays quiet. Nicholas finishes up tying the bow neatly. Except even when Harua cranes his neck around to inspect his work, he doesn't say another word.
"I'm not cute," Nicholas ends up saying. Sue him, he's curious and he needs to know what the twins have apparently been saying when they're gossiping about him. "I'm very cool. I'm fierce."
He makes a growling face, showing his teeth, but Harua just rolls his eyes.
"Not you. You and Euijoo. He says that he doesn't like romance and that you're not cute together."
As always when Harua talks about romance, he sounds a little like he's regurgitating lines from television shows. Only half of it ever sounds age-appropriate. It should be funny, but instead it makes Nicholas' heart feel a little bit heavier with the weight of the implications.
Taki is right there, but he's still too busy colouring to jump into the conversation.
"Taki can have his own opinions," Nicholas shrugs. He personally doesn't think he cared about romance when he was six. He'd probably have been the kid making gagging sounds and pretending to throw up in the corner.
"He's wrong!" Harua says, aghast. For all Nicholas hadn't heard him talk at all when he'd first arrived, he's actually really chatty once he gets confident enough. "You're a cute couple! It's like in a TV programme. Who's the fairy princess and who's the prince - ooh, who's the one who gets to faint and is in danger, and who's going to rescue them?"
"Fairy princess?" Nicholas echoes.
Harua continues on as if he hadn't heard a thing. "In the TV shows there's usually another person though. Or they like each other but they don't know they like each other. It's like Miraculous-"
This does get Taki to look up. "Miraculous!" Euijoo gently guides him back down to the colouring.
"In Miraculous, there's Ladybug and Chat Noir," Harua says.
"I know," Nicholas tells him. "You watch it all the time, I've seen parts of episodes."
"Ladybug and Chat Noir like each other, but they don't know that they like each other. They don't know who they are in real life. Ladybug is Marinette in real life- hang on. Who's Marinette and who's Chat Noir in you and Euijoo? This is getting complicated."
"I think you're making it complicated," Nicholas says.
"I-"
"Maybe you can show me an episode properly at some point," Nicholas says, even though he's definitely already been dragged into watching Miraculous with them before. "Not right now. Yudai and Fuma are waiting already. We need to be waiters, remember?"
That's his job in this mess of a restaurant. He's the assistant waiter to Harua. And his distraction works - since it makes Harua realise that Nicholas isn't wearing a matching apron, and he runs off to go and find one for him.
"I'll remind you of that promise," Yuma calls across the kitchen. Jo looks up and shakes his head at him, which both makes Yuma look a little chastised and also does the job of making Nicholas feel quite vindicated.
"I'm almost done," Taki says, when Euijoo leans over to try and look at the menu on the table.
"It can't be that long until you're finished," Nicholas says. "We literally only have one thing to put on the menu."
Taki looks up with huge eyes. Nicholas immediately nods his head solemnly, "I take it back."
"Look what I can do!" Maki says, appearing from literally nowhere to bounce in front of Nicholas. He hadn't seen him get down from the stool, but now he's practically vibrating in place.
"What's up with you?" Nicholas asks. The more time he spends around the kids, the easier it becomes to interact with them. At some point, Nicholas had just forgotten that he'd ever hesitated when speaking to them - even on that first night, where he'd realised he was minding his words without ever meaning to. Part of getting a more solid position as being a big brother is getting to be a little mean to them. "Ants in your pants?"
"I just remembered somethin'," Maki says. "I have to do it before I forget again. You'll think it's funny - look." He makes two 'v' shapes with his fingers and pushing them together, "Put your finger here."
Nicholas looks down at him, momentarily caught off guard. Whatever he'd expected Maki to come up to him asking - it hadn't been this.
"Here," Maki demands, taking Nicholas' confusion for hesitation. Or even worse, dismissal. He tries to lean forwards to get a little closer and shoves his hands into Nicholas's face. The new proximity means that he's too close for Nicholas to actually put his finger where it's being demanded. Maki doesn't seem to care about that part.
"Let me just-" Nicholas says, shuffling back and then finally, giving in. He puts his finger in the space Maki has created by pressing the 'V's together. He's not quite sure what this is supposed to be yet.
It certainly doesn't look very impressive. He's a bit underwhelmed, actually.
Maki grins at him. "Now wiggle it around."
Nicholas complies. When Maki doesn't say anything else, he raises an eyebrow and pulls back again, still trying to work out what on earth this has all been about. It doesn't help that Maki is now trying to hold back his laughter - and when he speaks, it takes a few seconds to get the words out in a way that's understandable.
"Thanks- hah, thanks for cleaning my butthole!"
His face has turned pink with the effort of not collapsing into laughter, and the moment that the words finish leaving his mouth he gives in. He flops down onto the ground, landing a little more heavily on the side without the prosthetic, and cackles maniacally.
"Are little kids like you allowed to say butthole," Nicholas asks. He stares at his finger. Maki hasn't actually done anything to it, but he gets the feeling that he needs to wash his hands anyway.
"Aren't you supposed to be helping cook?" Euijoo reminds him gently.
Maki's eyes widen. "Oh yeah!" He plants his hands on the ground and tries to get himself up. Falling back with such force has dislodged his leg, and he grunts as he fits it back into the socket. Nicholas is already waiting to grab his hands and pull him to his feet when he finishes. Not that he gets anything more than a rushed thanks - then Maki is already rushing back to his position by the stove.
Jo signs something at him.
Maki heaves an exaggerated sigh, but scoots his stool over the sink and rinses his hands without protesting. He's usually very clean, so the sigh is clearly just for emphasis.
To make up for it, Jo holds out the wooden spoon with the onions for Maki to try. He's held it out for a while, until they've cooled enough for a little kid to eat without burning their tongue.
The smell is still delicious and Nicholas definitely thinks they must be done by now. They're a gorgeous caramel colour clinging to the spoon, and Maki seems to agree with how he nods approvingly as he gets back up.
"Can I try?" He asks. Jo nods, and Maki-
Maki takes the spoon. He holds it very carefully in both hands. Then his pink tongue darts out and licks a piece of onion directly off the spoon, right before it sticks it back into the pot.
Ah.
Maki might usually be good at keeping things clean, but he's also still a little kid. Every single person older than eight in the room immediately cringes, but no one says a thing.
...Oh well. Fuma and Yudai have had to be raising kids for so long that they surely can't be fazed by a couple of germs. The fact that a five-year-old has been declared 'head chef' in the first place really should have been all the warning they needed.
Jo looks a little dismayed at the spoon. He hadn't been fast enough to stop Maki, clearly.
"It's fine," Yuma says. "They're still hot enough to burn off any germs."
Fuma and Yudai will also never know if no one tells them. Nicholas certainly isn't planning to, and neither will Harua. If anyone else decides to come clean - well, it'll be too late by then.
Jo signs something again. Nicholas is facing the wrong way so he can only make out done, or finish. The fact he's missed the meaning isn't lost - it takes a moment, but Yuma rolls his eyes in an exaggerated way, and slumps back again. "It's almost done. Go on, waiter. The head waiter is waiting."
The head waiter is not waiting. The head waiter had been watching Taki add the last finishing touches to the menu, but does not correct Yuma. Harua just pretends like he had been waiting, and it's all Nicholas can do to play along.
"Here," Taki says, handing the completed menu over. Nicholas grabs it, as well as a notebook and pen someone had gathered as props. Harua is standing by the kitchen door by now, and when Nicholas joins him, they step outside together.
The hallway has been set-up into their makeshift restaurant. The blinds have been pulled down outside and the lights turned until there's nothing more than a faint glow emitting from them. Yuma had contributed a roll of fairy lights, and they've been wrapped around the bannister of the staircase to light up the rest of the room.
In the very centre, Euijoo had managed to find a table from who-knows-where. It's a little big for the space and Yudai's legs are long enough that his knees are definitely knocking against it, but they've covered it in a white tablecloth, and it actually looks pretty professional.
The table has already been set with glasses and cutlery. There's a fake bouquet of flowers in a vase between them - paper straws for the stems, and then everyone having coloured in a set of petals to tape down. Nicholas is proud of his contribution in amongst the bright colours drawn by everyone else.
The music is a little louder here, but it's still not loud enough to drown anything out. Fuma and Yudai had been talking quietly, but their heads both turn to look at the door as it opens.
Fuma can't hide his smile when he sees them. Part of him is probably laughing at how ridiculous they both look, but it's all part of the dedication to the scene - and Nicholas can't see anything cruel in the curve of his eyes. Yudai grins as well. He even nods approvingly when he sees their outfits.
"Uh," Harua says. Before Nicholas can ask what's wrong, he's being pushed in front by two small hands. Harua has suddenly come over all shy - using Nicholas like a shield as they shuffle towards the table together.
Fuma and Yudai are waiting expectantly. Nicholas doesn't have a choice but to square his shoulders and get properly into the waiter role. He flips open his notepad and places the menu onto the table in front of them.
If he's going to do this, he's going to do it properly.
This will be the evening that Fuma and Yudai deserve. It'll be the date they should have had on that evening that everything went wrong - and though Nicholas has already talked about his guilt with them (and his therapist and the case worker who'd been sent to check-in on the family after everything), he can't help but taste that same bitterness in his mouth now.
They do so much for the kids. Nicholas... Nicholas included. They've welcomed him here with open arms, which is more than he'd deserved. And they never hesitate to make him feel like he is part of the family, whenever he starts to doubt that.
Even in just how they treat the other kids. The small ways they take care without needing to say a single thing - the endless trips out for all the after school clubs and extra-curriculars. Nicholas up at night because he can't sleep, overhearing them practicing their sign with Yuma, encouragement filtering out and beneath the door.
He'd mentioned dance classes, and half the house had been signed up the next day. He hasn't had much time to experiment with fashion, but every time he turns up wearing something fun, he's sure to get a compliment. Every time they quieten down so that Jo can be heard, or bring something back for Euijoo before he can ask - it's all that Nicholas can do to give this back to them.
It's not even difficult. Not with everyone also playing along in the kitchen behind him, but because he doesn't care what anyone else has to say - he'll dedicate everything right now, just to do it right.
"Good evening, sirs," Nicholas says, putting on as much of a posh accent as he can manage. He ends up tripping over some of the sounds and kind of gives up by the end, but even Harua giggles behind him. "How have you found the wine?"
There is no wine on the table. There are two wine glasses and a jug of water.
"Delicious," Yudai says, playing along. He lifts his glass and swirls it as if it really does have wine inside. "Is this a vintage? You must pass my compliments along."
"Of course," Nicholas says, nodding his head very seriously. "Have you had a chance to take a look at the menu?"
"Peruse the menu," Yudai says. Nicholas doesn't know what that means, but it must be in character for his waiter persona. He repeats it as well as he can, and both Yudai and Fuma smile even wider.
Fuma is holding the menu up, and he looks at it very seriously. He makes a show of pulling his glasses down so he can read it properly - which gets Harua to laugh again. Slowly, he's coming back out from behind Nicholas.
"There's some stunning artwork here," Fuma says, peering exaggerately at the paper. "Is this Picasso?"
"You'd know the artist if it was a Pokemon card," Yudai says, shaking his head. He holds out his hand dramatically for Fuma to pass the menu across, and then brings it up to his own face with a flourish. There's another set of laughter - and when Nicholas glances behind him, he sees that pretty much everyone else is watching the scene through the cracked-open door. "See? Yes, I recognise this extraordinary style. This has to be from that famed designer - Tak-ee, I think?"
Taki's descent into proud giggles is audible, even from across the room.
"I didn't realise that we had two connoisseurs dining here tonight," Nicholas says. "Why are you speaking like that? It's only everyone else that's playing a role - you two are just supposed to be on a date night!"
Harua tugs on his hand. "You're not speaking properly!"
"I think art must run in that family," Yudai continues, as if Nicholas and Harua had never spoken. "His older brother - Jojo - is so incredibly talented as well. I think their brother Nee-cholas is skilled as well."
This-
This gets Nicholas to flush. The compliment catches him off guard. He knows that Jo is always drawing and that he is incredibly talented - Nicholas has found himself looking at the hand-drawn card he'd been given in the hospital more than a few times before. He just hadn't been expecting Yudai to compliment him afterwards.
Nicholas doesn't draw much. He likes it, but there's usually too much else going on to find time to sit down with a sketchpad. There has to be a reason that he's drawing.
He doesn't even know when Yudai might have been able to see anything that he's drawn before. It's why it catches him unaware - that, and the fact that Yudai sounds so completely sincere.
"They must get it from their guardian," Yudai says. He sweeps past the fact Nicholas' cheeks are now burning, moving straight on to teasing his husband. It's something that's so very Yudai to do. Dropping a compliment and then letting it linger, just the right amount of teasing without edging that fine line over to humiliation.
His only saving grace is that the others have moved back into the kitchen. The exchange has drawn on long enough that they've gotten bored. Or the onions were beginning to burn.
"Good genetics," Fuma says. He takes a sip of his water like it's wine. He's fully dedicated to the bit, not threatening to break character even as Yudai fails to hide his grin behind his own glass.
"Excuse me, sirs," Harua says, interrupting the moment. Nicholas' literal life saver - he could not have picked a better moment to speak up. "Your menu?"
He rocks up onto his tiptoes to tap at where it's been abandoned on the table.
Fuma makes a quiet noise, hurriedly swallowing his water. "Mmm- Let me look. I think I'll have the burger. How perfect that this restaurant does that. It's my favourite food - did you know that, waiters?"
Nicholas doesn't know whether it's actually his favourite food, or whether he's just saying that to appease the kids. They'd mostly selected it because it was easy enough to cook, after all.
Then again. Nicholas also thinks he's seen Fuma absolutely inhale a burger in about four bites, so there's an equally realistic chance that he's not lying. With Fuma, it's very hard to tell.
"I think I'll have the burger as well," Yudai says.
Nicholas bows his head slightly. "An excellent choice."
"Excellent," Harua echoes beside him. Nicholas hands him the still-empty notepad and pen, and Harua beams as he pretends to take down their orders.
It's small, but Fuma's carefully-blank expression cracks. His lips twitch slightly. Even though he's playing along with the game, he can't quite hold back his smile, and Nicholas finds himself fighting to keep his own expression straight as well.
"Any more wine required?"
Yudai shakes his head. "I think we're fine. Do pass our compliments to the chefs as well - it already smells amazing."
"Of course, sirs."
Harua snaps the notebook closed. Nicholas is just about to turn and leave when Fuma coughs into his hand for attention. "You know," he says, before Nicholas has even fully turned to look at him, "The kitchen door isn't that thick. Just a small comment to pass along to all the staff here." He pointedly raises an eyebrow.
Nicholas stares at him. Then he turns to stare at the kitchen.
The music isn't very loud. Now that no one in the 'dining area' of the 'restaurant' is speaking, he can, in fact, hear Yuma saying something in the distance. He can hear Maki laughing and saying something - a pause, maybe Jo signing something in response - and then Euijoo's slightly indignant tone.
Ah.
"I'll pass that on," Nicholas says.
He almost wishes he'd just kept walking, because the next thing that happens is Yudai saying, "Isn't that Juju speaking right now?"
The phrasing is odd, which is a warning sign in itself. Nicholas isn't the only one that calls Euijoo Juju, but Yudai puts such emphasis on the nickname that his brain is immediately suspicious. It takes a second - and then in 4k, like it had just happened, he immediately remembers that he'd been fake-flirting with Euijoo about ten minutes ago.
It had seemed worth it to fluster him at the time. Now, with Fuma and Yudai both hiding their smiles, he can say that it definitely wasn't.
"... I'll pass that on," Nicholas repeats, dryly.
In the summer, he might have lashed back out. There's a way to read the teasing as something cruel, a warning disguised under the face of a joke. There's a time where he might have reacted by rearing back and lashing out. His burning skin would have been from shame as well as embarrassment, and he'd have pulled his walls a little closer towards him.
Now, he can see it for what it is: fond.
Familial, if he wants to swallow around that lump in his throat.
It's pushing buttons to show that they notice and they care. Every slip of him and Euijoo into the conversation - the smallest acknowledgement - comes without strings. Without needing to say it in as many words, they're saying that it's okay.
It's something to show how far he's come that he doesn't feel any urge to run. Maybe the next time he fills up their cups for them, it'll be a little on the warm side. Maybe he'll just laugh and not do anything at all.
"I don't get it," Harua whispers next to him. His expression is slightly screwed up in confusion.
"You can be the one to tell Yuma his music isn't loud enough," Nicholas tells him in response.
They start to head back to the kitchen, because it's probably part of the act that they still need to hand the orders in. The burgers have started to cook - Nicholas can tell because the smell fills the air. He can hear Taki laughing through the door, and it isn't long before they're stepping inside to join the others.
Nicholas nudges Harua. "What were the orders?"
Harua brightens. His mouth opens but only makes a choked noise, stumbling at the thought of making such a loud noise. He raises his hands to sign two instead - so Nicholas claps and brings everyone's attention to watch him.
It's strange, sometimes, to think about how quickly he's slipped into something sweet here. After about three years of fighting to stay on his own - only to let his walls down. But it hadn't been an easy journey.
Nicholas thinks about the love in this house. Not just in the words they say, but in the way it seeps into every action. The slightly unconventional set-up that had been so unjudging, even from the start. Without knowing - maybe that's what he had needed the entire time.
Fuma and Yudai and the tenacity to show him that they could be patient. They'd let him lead the way on his own terms, never stopping to demand anything back - even though he's grown-up enough to know that it must have hurt. He doesn't doubt that if he wanted to leave again, they'd let him, no matter what it would do to their own hearts.
Except he doesn't want to leave. He... has hope for the future, here. For his future. With Euijoo, and more importantly, past eighteen - with the knowledge that he'll always have a room and a family to come back to.
"Two burgers," Maki repeats to himself, even though there are two burgers cooking about ten inches away from him anyway. "Yes, chef!"
"You're the chef," Yuma tells him.
"I can say yes to myself."
And just like that, Nicholas is brought back. Taki is sitting at the table still. He's kneeling in a chair, undertaking the grand task of layering lettuce and tomato onto the burger buns. Maki and Jo are still in front of the stove - Jo guiding Maki's hand as they flip one of the burgers together. And Yuma just beside them, still pretending like he isn't watching over them both.
Euijoo looks up as Nicholas takes the seat next to him. "Yes?"
Nicholas pulls a face. "Yes? All I'm doing is sitting next to you. Why do you think I'm about to do something?"
"You have that look on your face," Euijoo tells him. "It's the look you get when you've just come up with a way to tease someone."
"Tease is such a strong word," Nicholas says. He doesn't say that Euijoo has his own look on his face - one that's fake-indignant, flat except for the look in his eyes, which is just as bright as all the stars in the sky. It makes Nicholas' heart skip a beat. Chasing a reaction is worth it, just for that look.
"It fits," Euijoo says.
And Nicholas grins. "Smart Juju," he says. Then he raises his voice a little, "I've heard that customers aren't allowed into the kitchen at restaurants. Anyone have anything they want to share about Fuma and Yudai while they can't stop us?"