Chapter Text
Today would be Eru’s first day at her new job, her nerves were shot. Right now her hand was aching from gripping the bus strap so hard on the commute there, like her life depended on it.
She really had no reason to be so nervous, she was perfectly qualified for the job, and it seemed like management was looking forward to having her. Even so, all she could think about how this position was much higher up then her last one, expectations would be higher. She was going to be the new girl in the office, too, which came with its own challenges. Then there was that thing her parents had said to her a few weeks ago when she told them she’d gotten a new job.
Eru didn’t live at home anymore, but she went to her parents house a few times a month for dinner. Her parents had been very excited for her, but then came the words she’d dreaded to hear.
“Maybe you’ll meet a nice man at your new job!”
It seemed like every time she talked to her parents nowadays, the topic would circle back to her love life. Questions about when she was going to get married, if she’d met anyone recently, or why she’d broken up with her last boyfriend. She could understand where they were coming from, her parents were getting on in years and they wanted to make sure she was taken care of and they wanted grandkids (that they were very vocal about).
She calmly explained to her mother that jobs weren’t for matchmaking, it was a professional environment. She’d find a man eventually, they’d get their grandkids, she was only 26, she wasn’t gonna become a spinster. At least she hoped not. Eru did want to get married, but she also wanted to find the right guy, and that sort of thing took time. Besides, she had her career to focus on, which need she remind them that they were the ones who pushed her towards making her own future in the first place.
Taking a deep breath, she tried to clear her mind of those thoughts. Like she explained to her parents, the workplace wasn’t for romance. Instead she focused on remembering what floor, room, and desk she would be working at. After all, It would be a shame if she was late on her first day because she got lost.
As she rounded a corner, her body collided with something solid. She staggered backwards a few steps, apologizing profusely for her clumsiness until her eyes met a familiar face.
“F-Fukube?!”
“Chitanda?!”
They spoke in unison, with identical looks of surprise, but Fukube’s expression melted into an easy smile.
“Chitanda, what a pleasant surprise! What are you doing here?”
Eru was still in a bit of shock, she scanned the man before her to get her bearings. He wore a light teal button down with a red tie that had some kind of loud pattern on it and tan khakis with a nice pair of sneakers the same color as his shirt. If his fashion sense was anything to go by, this was definitely the Fukube she knew in high school.
“I... work here now. I just started today.”
“No way! That’s great, what department?”
“Accounting.”
“Hey, we work on the same floor, would you like me to walk you there?”
“If you don’t mind...”
“Not at all!”
And so she ended up following Fukube to their floor. She didn’t even have to worry about any awkward silence because he seemed happy to fill it.
“I heard that accounting was getting a new hire this week, but I never would’ve guessed it would be you. What are the odds?”
“I had no idea you worked here, Fukube.”
“If you knew would you have still taken the job?”
“Of course!” It was only after her defensive reply that she realized he was just teasing her and Fukube laughed. It’d been awhile since she’d spoken with him and she’d forgotten his tendency to not take anything too seriously.
“Mayaka and Houtarou will be excited to see you.”
“Eh? What do you mean?”
“They work here, too. Houtarou and I are in the same department. Mayaka works a few floors up.”
Those details told Eru that this time he was not teasing. Fukube working at the same company as her was one thing, but all of the old Classic Literature Club from Kamiyama High working in the same place? This had to be an act of fate of some kind. And Oreki—
Fukube suddenly stopped walking and Eru nearly crashed into him again. “This is your stop.”
She looked up and sure enough, the entrance way that led to the accounting department was right in front of her.
“We should both probably get to work. Let’s all meet for lunch, okay? Good luck on your first day!”
Fukube didn’t give her anytime to reply, already halfway down the hallway, waving goodbye.
“Ah, thank you!” She called out to him and he gave her a big smile before disappearing around the corner.
~~~
“You seem more insufferable than usual.”
Houtarou cast an annoyed glance at Satoshi who was hovering at his desk. His friend was typing away at his phone and humming a familiar tune that Houtarou couldn’t quite remember the name of. Over the years of knowing him, Houtarou had become incredibly skilled at tuning out his antics when he needed to, but Satoshi in turn had become incredibly skilled at annoying him when he wanted to.
“I’m just excited about something, is all.”
“You’re going to get behind on your work.”
Satoshi was quick to change the subject. “you’ll never guess who I saw in the halls today.”
Houtarou looked over his shoulder, “who?”
“It’s a secret for now, but you’ll find out at lunch.”
“Are you texting that person right now?”
“No, I’m telling Mayaka who I saw.”
“Oh, so you’re going to tell her, but not me?”
Satoshi pouted at that, “she wouldn’t come down to our floor for lunch if I didn’t tell her.”
“You know, for being your girlfriend she doesn’t seem to want to spend a lot of time with you.”
“She says I’m too distracting.”
“Really? Wonder why she thinks that,” Houtarou deadpanned.
Satoshi snapped his phone shut and then pressed a small stack of papers to Houtarou’s chest.
“Could you make copies of these files for me?”
“What? Why? You’re already up.”
“I’m behind on my work, besides, you just said something really insensitive to me so you own me.”
Houtarou narrowed his eyes at Satoshi’s retreating form as he made his way to his desk, signaling that he wasn’t going to take any arguments from him.
Houtarou huffed, “you’re lucky you’re my friend.”
“Yes, and I’m so grateful to you, Houtarou~”
Their floor only had two copy rooms, one by the accounting department and one by the break room. Houtarou guessed it was because the company couldn’t afford a copier for every department. The one closest to Satoshi and his department was by accounting, so Houtarou headed toward there.
He skimmed over the files Satoshi had given him, messing up the order a bit out of spite. He glanced up at for a moment at the window that provided a view into the accounting room as he passed by, and what he saw in there made him do a double take.
Past the glass, in the accounting room, sitting at a desk looking determined and focused was a face he hadn’t seen for years. Eru Chitanda. He nearly dropped the papers he was holding, making a sharp turn back to his own department with a speed that would put an Olympic sprinter to shame. He could vaguely hear Satoshi complain about him not copying the files after he slammed them on his friend’s desk before sitting down at his own.
Houtarou didn’t even have to look at Satoshi, he could feel his devious smile burning into the side of his face. He pointedly ignored him and busied himself with work, until he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He already knew who the message was from, and he knew that if he ignored it then the sender would distract him from his work again. He begrudgingly pulled out his phone.
From: Satoshi Fukube
You saw her, didn’t you?
Before he could reply another message popped up.
Hope you’re ready for lunch!
All Houtarou could do was put his head in his hands. Today was going to be a long day.
~~~
Eru has nearly convinced herself during work that maybe she had just been seeing things. Maybe her nerves were causing her to hallucinate her old high school friends to comfort her. That was, until she heard Fukube call out to her and she looked up from her desk to see him waving at her from across the room. She knew he’d said they should eat lunch together, but she hadn’t expected him to come get her right as it started. She grabbed her lunch bag and trotted over to him.
“How’s your first day been so far?” He asked as he lead her to the break room.
“Good! There’s a lot of new things to learn, but I’m up to the challenge!”
“That’s great to hear. Houtarou is waiting for us in the break room, so we should hurry.”
Eru gripped the handle to her lunch bag tighter as they picked up the pace. It had been so long since she’d see Oreki, she wondered if he’d changed at all. Fukube hadn’t seemed to have changed in the slightest.
“Houtarou was really surprised when I told him you were working here.”
“Ah, really?”
“Yeah, he almost didn’t believe me, but I convinced him.” Fukube turned to smile at her, “he’ll be happy to see you.”
Something about the way he said that made Eru pause. It was the most sincere he’d sounded all day. It eased the turning in her stomach, but it caused a whole new feeling to stir in her chest.
When they arrived at the break room she spotted Oreki immediately. He was sitting by himself at one of the few tables. He wore a dark gray suit and his usually messy hair was fixed up. He cleaned up nice. Yet he still looked like the same old Oreki.
“Hey, Houtarou, look who I brought,” Fukube sing-songed, pushing Eru in his direction.
Upon seeing her, Oreki quickly stood up from his seat, “Chitanda, it’s good to see you again.”
“Yeah, fancy meeting you here.”
To her surprise, Oreki’s lips turned up just the slightest bit, and not even in a forced manner like he used to. It seemed natural.
“Why don’t we all sit down, Mayaka should be joining us soon.” Fukube took her by the shoulders and plopped her down onto the chair beside Oreki.
They say in silence and Eru fiddled with the hem of her skirt beneath the table, reaching for something to say. She was saved though when a high-pitched voice cut through the room.
“Chi-chan!” The wind was knocked out of her as she was wrapped up in a tight embrace.
“Mayaka!” She returned her old friend’s hug, laughing as she nuzzled her hair.
Mayaka’s hair was the same length it had been before, but she’d grown out her bangs, which were held back by a flower shaped clip. She wore a light yellow button down and black pencil skirt along with a pair of heels that made her look much taller than she actually was.
“It’s so good to see you again! It’s been way too long!”
“Yes! I missed all of you.”
“But you missed me the most, right?” Mayaka sat beside Eru with a smirk.
She opened her mouth to playfully rebuff her, but Fukube butted in.
“Oh please, we all know Houtarou was the one she missed the most.”
Eru flushed at that.
“You underestimate the bonds of female friendship, Fuku-chan.”
“There wasn’t anyone I missed the most!” she denied maybe a little too quickly.
“Don’t listen to him, Chitanda, he’s just being a pest.”
She smiled at that, feeling more relaxed now. She brought a hand to her mouth and pondered a loud, “isn’t it curious that we all met here.”
“Let’s not get started on that,” Oreki sighed.
“Ah, yes, now I really feel like I’ve been transported to the old Classics Clubroom.”
Mayaka changed the subject. “What have you been up to Chi-chan? How was college?”
They spent their lunch break eating and catching up. Eru found out that all three of them ended up going to the same college, which led to them getting the same internship, which then led to them all working at the same company.
“They were all just following me around.” Fukube teased, with only mild protests from Oreki and Mayaka. That led Eru to believe there was some truth to it.
She also discovered that Mayaka was writing manga and that she even had a magazine publishing it weekly. Eru didn’t read manga often, but she wanted to read Mayaka’s. She was sure that whatever she made would be amazing.
“I should bring you the first volume tomorrow.” The sound of moving chairs started to fill the room, bringing the group out of their conversation. “Lunch break is much too short for catching up.”
Oreki checked his watch, “we’ve only got five more minutes.”
“Ah, I got to get back to my floor,” Mayaka shot up and started packing up her things.
“We should meet up after work then,” Satoshi suggested, “there’s a nice bar just down the street from the office. We’ll have plenty of time to catch up there.”
They all agreed to meet after work before Mayaka rushed off. The rest of them began parting ways, but Oreki stopped Eru just outside of the break room.
“What is it, Oreki?”
“Uh,” he fumbled a bit, not meeting her gaze.
Now that he was standing before her, Eru realized that he’d gotten a bit taller. Or maybe it was just because he wasn’t slouching anymore. The thought made her face feel warm for some reason.
“I’ll see you after work,” his voice brought her out of her thoughts. He was already walking away.
“See you after work.”
She didn’t think he heard her.
~~~
“I just remembered, my deadline is coming up, so I can’t come.”
“And I help her beta, so I can’t come either.”
“But you two should still go! Catch up! Have fun for our sake!”
“Yeah, all four of us can go out another time!”
That was how Houtarou and Chitanda ended up at the bar with just the two of them.
Chitanda was already on her second glass while Houtarou was only halfway through his first. Based on her behavior, she was already getting tipsy. It sort of reminded him of that time she got drunk after eating too many whiskey chocolates.
“You wanna know what my parents said when I told them I got this new job? ‘Maybe you’ll meet a nice man!’ Ugh.”
Houtarou didn’t think he’d ever seen her so loose before, it was honestly a little amusing to watch, but he’d stop her if she tried to get another drink. He didn’t think he’d ever have the energy to deal with a fully drunk Chitanda.
“Do they want you to get married?” He wasn’t sure how the conversation drifted to this topic. It’s possible she’d just brought it up out of the blue because it was the most pressing thing on her mind.
She nodded, “yeah, but finding a good man is hard.”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“It is! You know, they always say to ‘be yourself’ and I tried that, but guys didn’t like me.” Chitanda laid her head on the bar, looking dejected. “They all said I was too annoying.”
Houtarou couldn’t say he’d never been annoyed by Chitanda, there was a time where he had been, but that changed as they became closer. It had even gotten to the point where he couldn’t imagine what he’d be like without her in his life.
“You’re not annoying.”
“That actually means a lot coming from you, considering how much I bugged you back in high school.” She turned her head to look at him and smiled slightly. It made his chest feel light.
“You didn’t, not really.”
Chitanda scoffed, like he was lying. He was too caught up in the fact that she just scoffed at him to reassure her that he wasn’t.
“I tried to be normal around my last boyfriend, but it just... didn’t feel right. My parents were pretty disappointed when we broke up, but how was I supposed to be with a guy I couldn’t be myself around?”
“Wouldn’t make for a very good life.”
Chitanda hummed in agreement, taking another sip of her drink. She plopped her face back on the counter and started kicking her legs and groaning.
“Ugh, why can’t they just get off my back already.”
Houtarou had to stifle a laugh. It was admittedly quite fun to watch the usually well put together Chitanda act childish. He wasn’t sure if it was because of her abnormal behavior or the alcohol starting to take effect or something else entirely, but a rather bold thought popped into his mind. He casually took a sip of his drink as he voiced it.
“You know, I might be able to help you with that.”
Chitanda stopped her kicking and groaning, lifting her head slightly. “What do you mean?”
“I know what you’re like and I don’t mind it, we could date.”
The look she had on her face when she turned to him immediately exorcised whatever boldness he’d been possessed with. His next instinct was to deflect.
“Just to get your parents off your back for a bit, so you don’t have to deal with their pestering.”
“Oh.”
Was that disappointment he heard? No, he must be imagining things. If anything, she’d be relieved.
“It wouldn’t be much trouble for me, but we don’t have to...”
“No, you’re right.”
“Huh?”
Chitanda sat up and leaned close to him. “Let’s date.”
He always found it hard to refuse her when she was so close and when those eyes of hers bored into his very soul. He had been the one to first suggest it, so...
“Alright, let’s date.”
“Couples don’t usually call themselves by their last names, do they?” Houtarou asked as they were walking home from the bar. Not that he would really know, he’d never been in a relationship before.
“I guess not...” Chitanda must’ve been sobering up a bit— he’d made sure her next order after her second drink was a glass of water— she was starting to act like herself again.
“So then we should drop formalities, call each other by our first names.”
“I suppose you’re right, Houtarou.” She delicately covered her mouth with her hand. “That makes it sound so much more official.”
“It’ll definitely take some getting used to.”
He watched Eru as she moved to brush a strand of hair behind her ear. He felt an urge to brush it back for her, but resisted it. He’d already been forward enough tonight.
Satoshi sure would be pleased with himself when he heard about this. Houtarou could tell that he was trying to set them up, he even got Ibara in on it. Although maybe he’d be surprised to find out they made such a big step, and on the first night.
His friend knew that he had a crush on Eru since high school, but Houtarou himself hadn’t realized it till a few years afterwards. He didn’t think he’d see her for a long time, and if he did he was sure she’d already be taken. Now she was back into his life and became his girlfriend not even a day later.
Maybe it was fate.
“My apartment complex is just across the street here.”
“Oh, mine’s the other way.”
“Then I guess this is where we part ways.”
Eru gave him a slight bow. He returned the gesture, but he felt like there was something more he should do. Should he pat her head? Hug her? Kiss her?
This was just like earlier at the office. He knew he should say something to her, something nice or something that would convey his feelings, but he just couldn’t. His mouth would get all dry and his throat would tighten and he’d chicken out.
Eventually he settled on just saying, “be careful on your way home.”
“I will be. Good night, Houtarou.”
“Good night, Eru. See you tomorrow.”