[LOG] Marui and Kenya

[mmmarui]

Who: Marui and Kenya
When: Friday evening
Where: Someone’s office
What: Marui and Kenya go on a date. Marui lays it on thick, Kenya is mostly oblivious.

Date night, date night. Marui was in the ultimate of good moods, whistling to himself as he put the finishing touches on tonight’s meal. Satisfied it was done, he wrapped it up to keep the heat in (just in case Kenya was one of those people who showed up fashionably late), and decided to give himself one more look-over in the communicator camera function. Satisfied that he looked perfect as always, he sat down at the desk he’d dressed up like a table and decided to check his communicator feed until Kenya arrived.

Kenya was never one to show up late. He arrived right on time, dressed in a black T-shirt and khaki shorts. He had brought a few snacks from Osaka (where his parents were from), sent by his mother, as a gift. He knocked on the door, all nervous energy and excitement.

Oh, nice! Guess this guy was more punctual than Marui usually was, that was good to know. Marui hopped up from his seat, swinging open the door with an ear-to-ear smile on his face. “Hey, Oshitari! You made it!” Of course he had, they were stuck on the same base. “Check it out, Tomo-san lent me his office. Doesn’t look half bad, right?”

Kenya smiled. "Feel free to call me Kenya!" He chirped. He didn't want this to be overly formal. "It looks great! You did all this just for me?" He was honestly impressed! "I brought you some gifts! Mom went back to Earth before I left and sent me with a bunch of stuff from Osaka!"

“Yeah? Then you can call me Bunta, Kenya. That way it’s fair.” Putting a hand on the small of Kenya’s back, Marui guided him in towards the table. “Yep, all for you so sit down and get comfy. So you’re from Osaka, huh? So that’s where you got that cute accent. Put the stuff you brought on the other table, we can share it together later.”

Kenya blushed. "Yeah, though my family spent my whole life hoping around. Famous doctor dad and all!" He let himself be led, putting the stuff down on the other table before going to sit down. "I've been really excited for tonight!"

Oh, Kenya was soooo cute. Marui was eating it up. He didn’t usually like topping (too much work when he could be sitting back and just enjoying things), but damn he was looking forward to railing this one.

“Me too. Doesn’t seem like you go on many dates, huh? Wonder why, it’s not because you’re not cute enough.” Marui already knew the answer: Kenya was just too dense to notice unless you smacked him with the request. “Maybe they were scared off by success, since it runs in your family.”

"Oh, I think it's just because sometimes I'm a little clumsy? Like I don't think before I act sometimes!" Kenya laughed. "But thank you! It's nice to hear that I'm cute!"

He was so, so dense. "What about you? Do you go on lots of dates? I bet! You're really hot!"

Oh, so Kenya was attracted to him, always good to know. That gets another big smile from Marui. “I’ve gone on my share, but I was pretty busy on Mars before I shipped off here. I figure I’m here for five years, so I may as well have some fun while I am, right?”

Kenya nodded. "Yeah, a lot of people are taking this so seriously! Like, why are they acting like they are in jail?"

Oof, that one hit a bit too close to home, and Marui winced a bit. “Haha, yeah… So, you ready to eat?” Marui didn't give Kenya the chance to answer and went to get the food right away. He needed the topic change. The food is placed on the table and uncovered; it’s a nicely garnished dish of penne pasta with white sauce. “Hope you like pasta, and if you don’t, you will.” Marui smiled and slid back into his seat, uncorking some wine and pouring them both generous glasses. “It’s all real stuff, not replicator junk. I don’t know about you, but I can’t live on algae.”

Kenya gasped when he saw the food. "This looks amazing!" He smiled. He took his glass and waited for Marui to sit down. "Yeah. The algae is not great. I can't wait to eat something good!"

Damn it was nice to feel appreciated. So far, the date was going great. Marui held up his glass, holding it over the table. “Cheers to real food.”

Kenya held up his glass. "Cheers!" He gently clinked his glass to Marui's before taking a sip. "That's really good!" He didn't drink wine very often. "Can I start eating?"

“That’s cuz it’s expensive,” replied Marui with a wink, taking a sip of his own glass. “Go ahead, that’s what it’s for. It’s even better than the wine, I promise.”

Kenya blushed, not absolutely dumb. He knew that winking was flirting. He took a bite of food and gasped. "This is amazing!" He practically moaned. "Oh my god…"

If only Marui knew that’s what it took to get through to Kenya, he’d be winking all night. He stabbed a noodle, spinning his fork in his fingers before he pointed it dramatically at Kenya. “I told you I was good at this, call me the next coming of Gordon Ramsay.” And in his mouth went Marui’s own bite, enjoying the fruits of his own labours.

"You're way too good-looking to be that guy!" Kenya laughed. He was just being honest. "But this is really, really good! I bet Yuushi will be jealous when I tell him!"

“Maybe I’m like the cute redesigned Japanese reboot,” smiled Marui. He had picked Kenya out because he was cute, so the compliments that came from him were just an added bonus. Nothing quite like a good ego stroking, after all. “You’re pretty close with your cousin, huh? What other kinds of things do you share with him?”

"Maybe! Definitely cuter!" Kenya insisted. He beamed when Marui mentioned Yuushi. "He's my best friend! More of a brother than my own! We were always together growing up! I know all of his secrets and he knows all of mine!"

Wow, the guy’s face really lit up there. “You’ve got a nice smile, you know that?” And Marui wasn’t even saying that just to butter Kenya up. He raised his eyebrows when Kenya mentioned how close they were. “Did you tell him about our date, then? What’d he say about that?” Marui was genuinely curious, but he also was hoping that Yuushi wasn’t the protective sort.

Kenya blushed. "Thanks, the last person I asked out said it looked dopey!" He chuckled. "I did tell him. He just gave me some advice and told me to go for it!"

In defense of that person, Kenya was a little dopey at times, but that was the charm. “Well I think it’s cute. They didn’t know what they were missing. And remind me to thank your cousin later, I owe him now.” Maybe if Marui was real lucky, Yuushi had even spelled out the part about after dinner activities. A guy could hope.

Kenya was so flustered at the compliments, he almost spilled his wine. "He just thinks its sad I haven't really dated yet, and I keep telling him life just got too busy. But he won't believe me!" He rambled.

Don’t mind Marui, he was just going to switch out their dinner plates for dessert, (a nice miniature strawberry sponge cake.) Luckily the room was small enough that he could do so without affecting the conversation. “Whatever reason it was, I’m glad you stayed single so I could ask you out for tonight.” Another wink. (Marui, of course, had his own opinions of why Kenya had stayed single so long, mostly related to the fact that he was as dense as a brick when it came to flirting.)

Kenya’s eyes widened at the sight of dessert. "Whoa…" It looked amazing. He was starting to catch on, at least a little, that he was being flirted with. He just had no clue how to flirt back. "I'm glad, too! You're really cool."

It was the winks. They helped. Of course, Marui wasn’t going to quit now that he was on a roll. “Do you like strawberries? You can have mine.” Without even waiting for an answer, Marui stabbed the strawberry from the top of his cake and held it out across the table for Kenya. Say ahh.

Oh! Yuushi has done this with him before! He opened his mouth. "Ahh." He said, almost like he had been trained on what to do at this exact moment. He ate the strawberry with a playful grin. "Delicious!"

Very receptive, that always boded well. Marui hoped Kenya understood what a sacrifice it was for him to give him his strawberry. “Baking’s my specialty, so there’s usually something tasty in the kitchen if you know when to check. The dry ingredients held up well on the trip over, so that helps too. I tried cooking some freeze-dried fish a few days ago… definitely could have been better.”

"Well, you're really good! I'll definitely have to go by the kitchen more often! Sometimes, the nutritional doctor is in there, but he seems to be working on something, and isn't cooking much…" Kenya shrugged. "Yeah. Fish seems tricky…"

“Oh, you mean Tachibana? Yeah, he’s got more responsibilities than me, but he’s real nice, and he’s a good cook. Of course, I’m both those things and more, so if you ever want something nice come to me instead, okay?” Marui leant forward on his elbows as if to underline the think about me part. And then for good measure, he extended his leg under the table and rubbed Kenya’s calf with his foot. The signs were not subtle.

Kenya nodded, flushing a little at the tone of Marui's voice. Before he could say anything, he felt Marui's foot on his calf. "Oh! Um… you…um…" Yuushi had told him about this, too. This guy was apparently actually attracted to him! But Yuushi didn't say what to do next! "Where did you learn to bake so well?!" He blurted out.

Marui cocked his head, but maintained his smile. He would have preferred flirting back, but the flustered reaction was cute too, so he couldn’t complain. “It says on one of my cards, wanna come back to my room and find out?”

"S-sure!" Kenya sputtered before really thinking. Back to Marui's room meant they would…not be alone. Oh! He just wanted to hang out more! That was a good sign! "You've collected all your cards already?"

“Not all of them, but I’ve seen them. Gotta know what my advertisement looks like, you know?” Over the moon now that he’d got the go ahead, Marui gets up and starts collecting the dishes in a pile, stacking them on the little tray he’d used to get everything up here. “We’ll just drop this stuff off at the kitchen and then we can go have fun in my room. I’ll take good care of you, I promise.”

Kenya nodded, grinning. He wondered what they would do in Marui's room. Would Kirihara be there? Maybe they would play video games or watch a movie! "Do you need help with anything?"

Kenya could rest assured, Kirihara was absolutely not invited to what he and Marui would be doing. “You can put the chairs back and grab the table cloth. Thanks, Kenya-chan.”

"I'm on it!" As quick as he pleased, Kenya put the chair back and whipped the tablecloth off the table, folding it all nice for Marui. "There you go!" He grinned.


“Thanks, looks like we never used the place. Not gonna be able to say that about the bedroom when we’re done.” Under his arm went the table cloth, and out with the tray went Marui, whistling once more.

[EPILOGUE]

As Marui lay on the floor staring at the dark ceiling, he wondered just who he had pissed off in his last life. Someone who decided that he should never get laid again, obviously. He was so having a talk with Akaya the next day–Akaya who, of course, was sleeping soundly in his bed after a long night of snacks (Marui’s snacks), video games (Marui’s video games), and cockblocking (Marui’s date.)

Kenya rolled over taking the blankets with him and sleep-kicked Marui for the millionth time that night, and Marui sighed. His cola-drenched mattress was starting to look really good about now.