despair | h. rindo

V

"Okay, but think about it this way, Broken hearts and Bullets." Smiley envisioned. "Not bad, not bad." You thought, tying up your apron. "Since when were you invested in their blog?" Angry asked, adjusting his hat. "Since like, last month." Nahoya scoffed.

The twins decided to help in the kitchen while you stayed at the counter as usual. The bell rang as the door flew open, you looked up from your notebook to see the demon himself. He walked slowly towards the counter, checking every detail of the restaurant.

Your breath became raged as you clenched your fist. You were trying to hold yourself back from choking the life out of him as he walked towards you. For the sake of your aunt's dream, you decided to play nice this time.

The thing was,

He didn't.

"You must be here for my aunt, She's not here, unfortunately." You smiled, trying to hide your venom through gritted teeth. "Actually, I'm here to have lunch." He stopped you before you could enter the kitchen.

You looked at him confusedly. He wasn't here for your aunt, so he wasn't here to test your restaurant. But that doesn't mean you could let your guard down just because he's acting all angelic like the last time.

He looked at you as you got lost in thought. "Are you going to bring me to a table or are you going to keep staring?" He asked, impatience in his voice as he tapped his foot rapidly. "Right, right... I'll, uh, get Kurumi on that." You said, heading to call the girl.

"Why don't you serve me? You're a staff, aren't you?" He asked in a suggesting manner, -not in that way you perv- looking down on you. "I'm not a waiter." You informed, gritting your teeth behind the smile you've been holding for a while, you could feel your cheeks straining, a tick mark forming on your cheek like your cousins when they get mad.

Rindou hummed, crossing his arms in disapproval. "A staff who doesn't obliged with customer demands? That's going to cost a demerit point." He clicked his tongue. You could feel your body heating up and the urge to break his nose just became higher.

"I'm sorry. Please, let me bring you to your table." You smiled angrily. Rindou felt victorious as you held a book of the menu and led him to a table. You stood by the table and he watched as you gripped on the menu.

"Aren't you going to pull the seat for me?" He asked tauntingly. Oh, he knew what he was doing to drive you insane -still not in that way-. "With all due respect. Last I checked, you weren't a girl." You retorted passive aggressively. "I don't need to be a girl to be respected, no?" He replied.

You sighed, pulling the chair with one hand and waited for him to sit. "On second thought, I'd like a booth instead." He said. You could probably feel your bones popping out from your fingers as you clenched it harder.

You could really just choke him with the menu but that would put your aunt's chances in jeopardy. "Follow me then, please." You lead him to a booth and place the menu in front of him, leaving him to order. "Stay." He ordered. "Excuse me?" You asked. "Stay and wait for my order." He repeated, skimming through the dishes.

Holding the writing pad and spinning the pencil in hand while waiting, you couldn't notice the older male's gaze shift to amazement as he watched you spinning it effortlessly.

"Hearts and bullets..." You muttered, trying to think of contents for your cousin's suggestion. "I'll get two Kagoshima Sobas. And... Make it spicy. If possible add as much spice as you can." He said. "I'm sorry, what?" You asked. "Did I stutter?" He looked at you coldly, his vision darkening as you stood there instead of taking his order.

You could feel cold sweat trickling down your nape. 'What the fuck does he mean "as much spice as you can". Fucking idiot. And why does he need two?' You thought. You walked towards the kitchen, met by Nahoya chopping up some meat.

"Mr. Four eyes is here." He chuckled. "Yeah..." You hummed. "He wants spicy Kagoshima. Two of them." You told him. "Like ground pepper spicy or-" Nagoya asked, only to be interrupted. "I don't know. He wants it really spicy." You scoffed.

"That demon probably misses hell or something." You glared at him through the window as he folded table napkins into origamis. "Then better not keep him homesick." Nahoya smiled brightly. You snickered at your cousin's joke before sitting down on a nearby stool to see him get to work.

~ ~ ~

You stood nervously beside the table as he inspected the dishes served. Smiley peaked from the kitchen window, seeing you fiddle with your fingers behind your back. Rindou ate a portion of the dish and he could feel the spice kicking in.

Smiley might have gone a little overboard with the chili powder for seasoning. You could even up a skull from the steam.

You could see his face slightly turning red due to the heat and you couldn't help but bite your tongue to keep yourself from laughing. "Why are you still standing?" He asked, face flushed due to the strong flavor.

Confusion covers your face as you stare into him for an explanation. "Well you don't expect me to eat this all on my own, did you?" He asked.

You did.

You did expect him to eat it all. By himself. Eventually to die in spiciness.

"Sit down." He ordered. Not wanting to cause any trouble for your aunt, you reluctantly sat down across him. Smiley watched attentively for the outcome. "Go ahead. Eat up." Rindou commanded, resting his chin on his palm.

Dipping the chopsticks in the dish, you reluctantly ate the soba.

You died.

Just kidding.

You would have expected for the broth to be the death of you, but it tasted good. It was spicy, sure, but it was good. You watched Nahoya cook the noodles himself and you observed as he made it probably inedible but here you were slurping every portion of the soba.

Smiley looked surprised, you looked like you were enjoying it. Rindou on the other hand had the look of failure. But he was amused. He reluctantly continued to eat his dish, his mouth getting used to the hot flavor.

With the linger of the heat rolling off your tongue, you could probably burn your lips off. But boy was your cousin the best cook.

"That was good." Rindou sighed. You would agree but you were too cautious to make friends with a demon. You cleared your throat before standing up and taking the dishes to the kitchen leaving the male alone.

"Damn, you're alive?" Nahoya joked. "Were you on a date with Rindou?" Souya asked. "What? No!" You denied. But you couldn't shake off the feeling of ecstasy with the boy.

It was worth it, for what is life without a little spice?