Best Beloved [Nozaki, Hori/Kashima] (complete)

Personal boundaries

  Can't come in today he texted Nozaki. Sorry.

"Of course," Wakamatsu was saying, "You won't actually move in until after the wedding, but for appearances we'll have to make sure it looks like you've been staying over at each other's places fairly often. And then there's the matter of dates. Somewhere cute but low-key to start, I think. You can 'propose' in private, and she'll wear the ring to one of the events later this month."

Everything okay? Sakura texted him.

Fine.

Wakamatsu had already strategically placed some of Kashima's belongings throughout Masayuki's apartment, including re-arranging his bathroom, and had moved on to surveying his wardrobe, making notes in his phone. "I'll have the deliveries arranged right away."

"Deliveries?" he asked, but was saved from a (potentially scarring) response by the doorbell ringing. Surely Wakamatsu hadn't meant they would start arriving right now.

"Hi Hori-senpai!" Kashima looked more like herself - the self he knew, anyway - is a dark pea coat and with minimal make-up. "Nice place! Are you going to invite me in?"

Masayuki stepped aside to let her in, pulling out a pair of guest slippers. "Welcome," he said flatly. Kashima didn't seem to mind, bright-eyed and taking in everything she could see even as she fumbled out of her coat and into the slippers.

"Ho, not much has changed!" She said, bending over some drafts he'd been working on for Nozaki. "Still using briefs, eh?"

He flushed a little, even though it had been a long time since everyone in the room knew he worked for Nozaki. "I was pretty jealous of Sakura-chan back then," she murmured to herself.

To cover his discomfort, he headed into the kitchen. "Would you like tea?" he asked, already putting water on to boil.

"Yes, thank you!" Wakamatsu agreed for both of them before showing Kashima all the little changes he had made in the apartment before she arrived.

It was strange, having Kashima in his home, his space. She had never been to his house in high school. Everyone had always wound up at Nozaki's apartment for obvious reasons. He'd also been a lot more careful about his boundaries with Kashima once he'd finally clued in that she was a girl.

Or, he'd tried, anyway. Kashima didn't really believe in boundaries, it seemed. Or maybe she just didn't believe in his boundaries. It was hard to tell sometimes.