Chapter Text
A walk, that’s all Katou needed to calm down his frustrations with the slow workday he’d just had. Well technically his shift hadn’t finished yet, but he couldn’t take it anymore. He couldn’t take the mountains of petty crime paperwork, like reports of stolen bicycles or a shop owner accusing a child of stealing a chocolate bar worth practically nothing. Not when the officers in the first division were running around upstairs preparing to catch the real criminals.
Every day he went into work and it felt like he was stuck. He was making no personal progress “solving” petty cases, he sat down in the dark basement offices surrounded by people who were content with where they were. But Katou wasn’t. Being in the basement did nothing but remind him of his mistakes. Working the way he currently was only drained him emotionally, and that was no way to live. He couldn’t work like this. He couldn’t live like this.
And on top of that, he now had to mentor some stupid rich kid.
The neon lights of downtown Tokyo did nothing to help Katou’s mood like he thought they would. If anything, the combinations of beaming yellow chicken shop signs, flashing pink 24-hour coffee shops and the constant white humming of the scattered vending machines, made his eyes burn and his head spin.
Kambe Daisuke, out of all the people he could have been assigned to buddy up with, it had to be Kambe freakin Daisuke.
Katou found himself tumbling into the green neon of a small local bar, it smelt like cigarette smoke and spiced rum, but it was warmer than outside and the soft golden lighting gave his eyes the rest they needed. With his eyelids half-lidded by a cocktail of fatigue and annoyance, he took a seat at the bar. A bartender was quick to make his way over, “What can I get you sir?” He asked politely, cloth in hand as he polished the inside of a whiskey glass.
Katou placed an elbow on the bar, into something sticky likely spilled spirits by the way it smelt, and dismissively waved his hand before running it across his tired face, “The strongest and cheapest thing you have” He said, tone flat and exhausted.
The friendly bartender chuckled fondly at the unfamiliar customer, “One bottle of Sake coming right up!”
Katou didn’t drink often at all, in fact, it was fair to say it was a rarity. But that was first division Katou, the Katou who buried himself in his work because he loved it. Because he was helping make significant differences to people’s lives. The only time he drank in first division would be after they caught a particularly slippery character, the chief would treat them to drinks and they’d all get pretty wasted. Coming back into work the next day, with a hangover that only death itself could dispel, was not fun; but weirdly enough, Katou always found satisfaction in going to the office, seeing his usually serious workmates struggling to look at the computer screens.
Anyway, that was first division Katou.
He wasn’t first division anymore.
So when the smiley bartender poured him a full glass of Sake, he threw it back and swallowed it in one; to the surprise of himself and also the bartender, “Another” He grumbled tapping his long delicate fingers on the side of the glass.
The man obliged against his better judgment, pouring him another only for the glass to be emptied as quickly as it was filled. “Rough day?” The bartender asked out of curiosity.
Katou’s face scrunched as the liquid burnt its way down his throat, it didn’t taste good at all but it did the job of numbing his aching brain, he could even feel the stuff in his nose as it cleared his sinuses. “Rough life” He replied, a cynical smile tugging at one side of his mouth.
“I see.” The bartender replied before a man on the other end of the bar heckled the worker, the man was so drunk on Sake that he was falling off the barstool.
Katou felt like he was looking into his future as he watched security guards drag the man out. No, Katou wouldn’t be that bad. Although his alcohol tolerance was surly low, he knew when enough was enough.
Yet, he kept knocking the drinks back. One after another, after another until he was halfway down his second bottle. His hands were shaky, vision blurry, head light and he was speaking so much quicker than his brain could process.
“No no no no, you don’t understand! He—hicc—he’s insufferable!” Katou slurred as he clutched his 12th glass of Sake above his head, the drink sloshing around and spilling over the bar and his hands as he tried to make gestures with it.
The bartender watched him closely, concern growing by the second “What was his name again?” He asked, trying to keep the drunken man in civil conversation to avoid unnecessary confrontation with the security guards.
Despite Katou being incredibly intoxicated, he wasn’t being rude or pushy. He was still polite and somewhat well-spoken, the bartender didn’t want to treat him as if he’d done something criminal. Especially since he’d been telling him stories of how he was a police officer, and he hated his new partner. As far as drunken stories go, the bartender found Katou’s to be thrilling.
“Dai—huuk—suke. He thinks he's better than me just be-eehu—cause he has money. It’s—ridiculous—”
“Didn’t you say he’s only been working with you a couple of months?” The bartender asked.
Katou’s eyes narrowed as he slurped his new full cup off alcohol, “So what”
“Maybe he's trying to prove himself—” Katou cut the man off with a scoff, but he continued “Plus, you said he's younger than you are too. He probably doesn’t want you to think he's incapable.” The bartender suggested.
“He is incapable!” He whined, his legs kicking out from his bar stool like a child having a tantrum. “All he does is throw money at people, criminals! He—hicc—rewards criminals for being criminals with money!” He paused, his brain was pounding against his skull—probably warning him to stop talking, but Katou didn’t listen, “He has nothing to prove. He has great deduction skills, he observes everything and remembers necessary details, his brain goes faster than mine does. And he does it all in those tight fitted trousers that show off his thighs, and—hicc—his stupid face—” Katou downed the rest of his drink suddenly, his face heated up exponentially when he thought about Daisuke…it always had. Which is why he choose to never think about him, but he wasn’t exactly in control of his thoughts right now, the 2 bottles of Sake were “Is so nice to look at.”
The bartender couldn’t help but laugh at the drunken man, “Seems to me like you actually like him quite a bit.” He smiled as he wiped down the spilled alcohol on the bar, all of which was Katou's doing. However, the bartender’s smile fell off his face completely when he locked eyes with the person lurking behind Katou’s stool.
“I see you’re having quite the enjoyable time Inspector Katou. I apologize for interrupting it.” A deep, smooth voice arose from the shadows that swallowed up the area of the bar behind Katou.
The drunken man seized his rambling at once, his body stiffened as he straightened his back out. Clearly trying to seem as sober as possible. But Katou’s face gave his internal thoughts and feelings away. His neck, cheeks, and ears were tinted an embarrassing shade of red and his eyes shot wide open for the first time since he’d entered the bar. Katou was flustered, resembling both a deer in the headlights and a child in front of a school crush.
“Isn’t this place too poor for your selfish capitalist ass” Katou said through gritted teeth, lunging for the 3rd bottle of Sake. Luckily, Daisuke beat him to it and politely handed it back to the bartender, “Oi—you can’t just! Wh—what, how do you even know this place!” Katou slurred, hands waving around in disbelief.
Daisuke’s face was as calm as it always was, infuriatingly difficult to read. “I didn’t.” He replied, pulling out one of his fat cigars, cutting the end and lighting it up. “Kamei said that you had left early, I thought that was odd behavior for you. So, I had HEUSC look into all the security cameras within a 10-mile radius of the station.” He paused, taking a drag of his cigarette to bask in the genuine disbelief and rage in Katou's expression, “You were not difficult to find.”
Katou couldn’t help the way his toes curled whenever Daisuke spoke to him directly. He also couldn’t help the way his first reaction to any type of feeling Daisuke gave him was anger. He couldn’t believe the audacity of this man, of this very attracti—no! not attractive absolutely not attractive whatsoever.
“You can’t just do that!” He yelled, catching the attention of others at the bar and unfortunately the security too. “You can’t go through life paying for information on whatever you like!”
“But I can, Inspector Katou” Daisuke replied smoothly, making Katou’s hairs stand on end. Stupid Daisuke and his stupid voice.
“That isn’t what I meant asshole—”
“Katou” The bartender warned softly, pointing to the fidgeting bodyguards who had their eyes locked on the drunken man. He was so close to being kicked out, even he recognized that. He couldn’t be kicked out in front of Daisuke; he’d never hear the end of it. And despite the foul mood it put him in, he still had a job. He was still a professional—well, somewhat professional.
Katou nodded, listening instantly to the man making cocktails for a group of girls who’d just tumbled in. Daisuke couldn’t hide the way his eyes rolled, of course his partner would listen to a stranger over him. “So,” Daisuke began, bringing the investigator's attention back to him, “What exactly did you mean to say?” He asked, eyebrow raised curiously.
Katou stammered but kept his eyes locked on the wannabe detective sat next to him, “That you, Mr. Daisuke, couldn’t go a week—no! a day! A single day! without spending any money or using that weird computer slave in your ear” Katou’s face turned into a smug smile, thinking that he was correct about his assumption. There was absolutely no way that somebody as selfish and money motivated as Daisuke could live a normal life. It was an impossibility for him to—
“Ok” Daisuke said calmly, taking another inhale of his cigar.
Katou’s eyes flung open, and he himself nearly flung himself out of his chair at the speed he twisted his body towards the suited man. “What—” He was cut off by a thick cloud of smoke being puffed directly into his face, causing him to cough so violently that he wouldn't have been surprised if he'd have thrown up on the spot. Oh, to cover his expensive black suite in vomit; seemed like perfect Karma to Katou.
Kambe freakin Daisuke
“I accept your challenge Inspector Katou.” He waved down the bartender, despite not wanting the man anywhere near his partner, “Two bottles of water please.”
Katou laughed hysterically, once again nearly falling off his chair. It was honestly a miracle the man could still sit upright, let alone talk. He wasn’t such a lightweight after all. “You failed already! Pathetic—”
“No, I haven’t” Daisuke cut him off, a dangerous smirk spread across his lips. The sight of it ignited butterflies in Katou’s stomach, his mouth suddenly dryer than it had ever been, “If I can’t spend my money, I’ll spend yours.”
“Daisuke you little shit!"