Chapter Text
Kenjirou heaves a sigh as he finishes his last med rounds for the night, hooking someone up with a new bag of fluids and wishing them a good night. He walks out of the emergency rooms and straight into the lockers, changing out of his scrubs as fast as possible and smoothing out his sweatshirt and jeans once he has them on.
“I don’t know why I’m not used to this yet.” He lost six patients today, two basically DOAs, but he thought him and his advisor could save them. He did save about fifty patients today on his shift, but the guilt of the ones Kenjirou couldn’t save was all he could think about. ER shifts are hard.
He rubs at his eyes as he walks out of the hospital, waving goodbyes to many of his coworkers, some patting him on the back as they walk past as a gesture of telling him that he did well today. He disregards it. He gets on the bus and sits near the back of the bus so it's easier to press the button before he gets off. He doesn’t realize his feet hurt until he’s sitting. Gotta love a double shift.
He puts one of his earbuds in his ears and puts his liked songs on shuffle, Time Machine by WILLOW starting to play. Back to his shitty apartment he goes. It’s better than still living with his parents. It’s his final internship year before he finally gets paid to work. He runs a small business selling custom stickers when he can, and people donate on his Ko-Fi all of the time. It’s how he pays his rent and how he buys his food. His parents bought him the printer for his birthday years ago when he asked for one for school, and sticker paper is pretty cheap in some places, so it’s been a decently steady income.
Ah, he got stuck in his thoughts again. He hits the button so that he can get off at his stop and sits back down, pulling his IC card out of his wallet. He thinks about what the pay of a bus driver probably is. More than he has, that’s for sure. He messes with his hair for a second. It’s pretty straight for the end of a double shift. He has Tendou to thank for the good hair products. The red haired man never stopped bothering him, despite the time difference. Apparently, his chocolate business is going swimmingly, because Kenjirou started getting ads for his Tokyo branch. He didn’t even know that his business “Mon Paradis” had even taken off that much. He stands up when the bus stops in front of his apartment complex’s bus stop, and quickly makes his way up to the front, tapping his IC card and walking off of the bus.
“Well hello there.” Taichi’s there, waiting for him on the bench with a smirk on his face and something in his other hand. “I got us something fun.”
“I’m not taking drugs Taichi.” Kenjirou deadpans.
“They aren’t drugs. They’re these like super strong coffee beans.” Kenjirou rolls his eyes as he holds his hand out, Taichi dropping three beans in his hand. “These should make you stay awake nicely for tonight.”
“What’s tonight?” Kenjirou questions before he drops all three beans in his mouth and starts chewing. He grimaces. It’s ironic. He’s a med intern who hates coffee, and it bites him in the ass every time. He has a bad memory when he’s tired.
“Semi’s playing at my bar tonight. The day’s just getting started.” Taichi’s smirking at him and all of a sudden it all makes sense. Taichi’s trying to set them up again.
“It’s been years. He has a fiancé. I’m over it.” Kenjirou is most definitely not over it. His face gets red with anger and embarrassment, as well as the fluttering feeling in his stomach. He looks like a constipated baby. He doesn’t believe he would deserve Semi if he ever did ask him out. He no longer has those abs he had in high school. He’s just this skinny, malnourished med student with the same angled bangs he’s had since high school.
“Yeah right.” Taichi wiggles his eyebrows at Kenjirou and then laughs at his own humor. Classic Taichi. “Come on. I picked you out an outfit.”
“Oh no.”
“Oh yes.”
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“I look like a whore.” Kenjirou is staring at himself in the mirror. He’s in a purple cropped tank top, a pair of black leather shorts, Taichi’s old Doc Martens, and a lightning necklace his mom bought him for his 17th birthday. “No.”
“I worked so hard on this thoughhhhh-“ Taichi whines as Kenjirou changes out of it. “Kenjirou pleaaa-“
“No. You can wear the whore outfit, asshole.” He slips on a white button up and a maroon sweater over it. He trips pulling up his ripped jeans and face plants onto his bed. Ignoring Taichi’s snarky ‘wow this is our next generation of doctors? I’m terrified’ comment, he pulls on mismatched socks (literally one is white and one is hot pink.) and white sneakers. He ties it off with a chain bracelet, a black string bracelet, and a dragonfly necklace with fake rhinestones. Thank god for Shein, or else the poor med student would be wearing trash bags in place of clothes.
Taichi put on an outfit similar to the one he gave Kenjirou, except in a distasteful shade of neon green and pants instead of shorts. He grabs his wallet and his headphones, throwing Kenjirou a pair of glasses. “Take your contacts out, I can see your eyes doing the thing.” The thing in question is when Kenjirou’s eyes twitch in an attempt to sooth them when the contacts are hurting them. Kenjirou just hates his face with glasses on. He claims they make his face more round. Reluctantly, he does it anyways.
Kenjirou frowns as he stands up and shoves his phone and his wallet into his pockets.
“This is totally stupid and I shouldn’t have to do this.” Kenjirou grumbles as he walks through the house. Taichi grabs the keys to his car (the most expensive thing he has. His mom insisted that she buy him one if he was working overnights.) and gets in the car. Kenjirou gets in the passenger seat and grabs the aux cord before Taichi can get to it. “Calm and collected? Or party time?” These are the two separate playlists Shirabu has. [I actually made them if you want them ‼️]
“Party time.” Taichi turns the car on and pulls out of his parking spot. Shirabu nods, pressing a few buttons on his phone before “Disturbia” by Rihanna starts to play. Taichi immediately starts singing with the words, and Shirabu sits there with his usual slightly pissed off indifferent expression.
Don’t tell anyone that is intimidated by him, but it really is just his face. Hardcore case of RBF. Hardcore. Like he could be looking at his favorite animal (crocodiles. He claims they’re misunderstood.) and his face would usually look the same. Don’t get him wrong, he does smile— there just has to be a real reason to express the emotion that goes with smiling. Like when he successfully saves a patient who was in a difficult situation? He smiles a little then.
They pull up to the bar fairly quickly. It’s right near the house, perfect for Taichi to get to and from when he works. When they park, Kenjirou doesn’t move from his seat. There are party lights that can be seen every time someone opens the door to walk in, followed by loud music. Currently, the speakers are blasting “Nintendhoe” by Doja Cat at an eardrum shattering volume. And Semi’s show starts in— Shirabu checks his phone— 3 minutes. Taichi hops out of the car and motions for Kenjirou to do the same. He slowly and reluctantly does, unplugging his phone from the aux. His frown deepens as they walk in. Kenjirou officially looks like he might fight someone. He very well might.