Work Text:
Please answer my calls.
It’s shorter than the other emails he’s been sending you the past few days, and you wonder if his patience is finally running thin. Then again, it’s not like his frustrations matter since he’s made it very clear he doesn’t care about yours.
You don’t care that he’s affiliated with the yakuza. You don’t care that he’s definitely involved in some shady business dealings, although he insists on keeping you out of the loop. As long as you get to see him at least once a week and talk on the phone every night, you don’t mind that Daigo is constantly out and about, away at work.
You do mind, however, him entertaining several women at one of the more upscale cabaret clubs in Kamurocho. The image of your Daigo, hands thrown across the back of the couch while two beautiful, sparkly-eyed hostesses cuddled up to him and gazed admiringly at his relaxed face, dusted red from the many drinks clearly had, was permanently burned into the back of your mind. You couldn’t even bring yourself to blame the girls for being taken with the man because hell, you felt the same.
Or at least, you used to.
Now, all you feel is betrayal when you think of his face. Your gut twists sharply, and the hole that’s been growing in the pit of your stomach only continues to grow.
Your phone pings again. Another email.
Please, love?
Daigo, despite his mysterious nature, has always been surprisingly excellent at communication when it comes to more personal matters. You remember him saying something about things unsaid ruining relationships, so he makes sure to express his affections for you as often as possible. He never fails to makes you blush, and despite being with him for several months now, you still find yourself caught off-guard whenever he calls you loving pet names.
Tears prick the corner of your eyes as you angrily snap your phone shut. You scrub your face with your sleeve and toss the phone over to your nightstand. Each day, you convince yourself you’re over him. Sometimes, you believe it.
Tonight, you can’t even entertain the idea.
Your phone begins to buzz. Sighing, you head to the bathroom to get ready for bed.
When he shows up at your doorstep two nights later, you’re flabbergasted to say the least.
You’ve never given him your address. He’s always insisted on you sleeping over at his fancy apartment, so you haven’t had the opportunity to bring him back to your place before. He’s dropped you off in the general vicinity, but you don’t recall actually telling him which apartment is yours.
Then again, this is Daigo Dojima you’re talking about. Of course he knows how to get the information he needs without hassle.
He says your name suddenly, snapping you back to reality.
It’s only then you realize he’s holding a large bouquet of red roses in one hand and clutching a small bear from one of the UFO Catchers in the other. He’s wearing a puffy white jacket over his dark-gray dress shirt, which you recall telling him is your favorite.
His face is unreadable as he holds out the presents for you to take.
Wordlessly, you accept them. You’re not rude and, more importantly, the bear is too cute to resist.
“Can I come in?” he finally speaks, his voice calm and steady as if everything’s just peachy between the two of you.
No, you want to say, but the dumber part of you—the one that misses him terribly and is admittedly overjoyed to see him so suddenly—overrides your common sense. You push the door open wider and Daigo eagerly lets himself in. Already halfway to the kitchen, you hear him lock the door. While you find something to place the flowers in, Daigo toes off his shoes and places them near yours by the entrance.
You end up depositing the flowers into an empty plastic container that normally holds cereal, and just as you convince yourself to turn around and face him, Daigo grabs you and tugs. Gasping, you find yourself maneuvered onto the tatami-covered floor and the next thing you know, a very handsome face is hovering over yours.
“What, are you going to kill me?” is out of your mouth before you can stop yourself. The corners of his mouth twitch upward but he doesn’t let himself smile.
“If you keep ignoring me, I might.”
“Maybe I wouldn’t have to ignore you if you kept your hands to yourself,” you spit back, and Daigo at least has the decency to look ashamed. He glances off to the side for a few seconds, clearly struggling to find the words to say. You don’t know this, but he spent the past week rehearsing what he wanted to tell you, what he wanted to apologize for. Unfortunately, he forgot everything he practiced the second you opened the door and he caught sight of your perfect face.
He eventually manages to mutter, “Sorry.”
Well. There goes that speech.
You look like you’re about to give him hell for that half-assed response, so he quickly backpedals. “I know, I know. I’m a fucking dumbass and I don’t deserve you.”
Tell me about it, you think, mentally rolling your eyes. You don’t say anything though, and he takes this as a sign to continue.
“I wasn’t thinking. There was a time not too long ago when I just… did that. Every night. It didn’t feel good but I didn’t know what else to do. The other night was…” he trails off, his eyebrows furrowing as he recalls the events of that fateful evening. He remembers how you walked up to him with that heartbroken expression on your face that almost made him drop the bottle he was in the middle of pouring. He remembers suddenly feeling trapped, hyperaware of the women on either side of him rubbing his shoulders and back. He remembers you quickly grabbing one of the full champagne glasses and dumping the contents over his head. Even now, he can still hear Majima’s howls of laughter, can recall the sensation of cold, fizzy alcohol soaking his hair and drenching his expensive suit. He vividly remembers barking at his men to leave you alone while you made your hasty escape.
Then Daigo thinks about how the pain that followed your sudden absence caught him off-guard. How he’d been startled by the emptiness he felt when you wouldn’t answer his calls or respond to his emails. He hated the disappointment that flooded his system whenever he checked his phone between clan meetings and found nothing from you. He didn’t realize how much he needed those cheerful messages until you stopped sending them.
It hit him last night, and that was why he wanted to see you now even though you clearly wanted nothing to do with him.
“I love you.”
The words hang in the air between the two of you for a few minutes. Daigo’s eyes never leave yours, which have grown wide in shock at the abrupt declaration. A blush begins to form on his face as the seconds tick by without your response.
Finally, you reach up to lightly smack the side of his head.
“Shut up. That’s not funny,” you scoff, furious that he would stoop so low to get you to forgive him. You never pegged Daigo as someone to manipulate you like this, but you never thought he’d be the type of guy to openly flirt with strangers while your back was turned either. Maybe you don’t actually know him as well as you do, and the thought makes your heart clench.
Daigo growls and, without warning, drops his head and crushes his lips against yours.
You gasp in shock and he takes that opportunity to capture your bottom lip between his teeth and lightly pull. Kissing him back just as fiercely, you let your hands come up to clutch at his back, but the material of his puffy jacket makes it difficult to do so. Instead, one of your hands slide up to grasp the back of his head and you lightly tug on his hair. Daigo groans lowly, pulling away to catch his breath.
“D-Daigo,” you mutter, eyes closed as the man begins to trail open-mouth kisses along your neck.
“I’m here,” he whispers against your warm skin. You swallow and you wonder if he feels it.
His earlier words haven’t left your mind since he said them. You let out a shuddering breath. “Did—do you mean it?”
Daigo doesn’t verbally respond. Instead, he lifts his head and stares you down with those warm eyes of his that drew you to him in the first place. You can’t bring yourself to look at him and focus on a spot on the ceiling instead.
He calls your name and you warily shift your gaze to his now-smiling face.
“What?” you mumble, your cheeks flushed as you took in the infatuated expression on his very handsome features.
But you already know.
“I love you.”