Pairing: Yuurakutei Sukeroku x Yuurakutei Yakumo
Rating: G
Prompt: geisha bon
Collection: (x) (AO3)
Accompanying art by @kazimir29 found here: (x)
'He's one of our top entertainers,' the man behind the counter tells Sukeroku, smiling. 'All booked up for the next few months.'
'He'll see me,' Sukeroku says desperately. 'I know he will. Tell him Shin is here.'
The man blinks as though Sukeroku has thrown cold water on him. 'Why, it's you. I'm sure Kiku will have time.' He shuffles through the papers on his desk before standing up and showing him into a private waiting room. 'He's been rather down, you must understand. Though it hasn't affected his earnings in the least.'
Sukeroku flushes. 'You mean...'
'There's a certain eroticism to sad eyes, young master,' the clerk says, and Sukeroku clears his throat and turns away. It's his fault that Bon's been sad, and he knows it. This elderly clerk knows it. Probably the entire geisha district knows, at this point. He tries not to look up when some shikomi pass by outside, giggling about the festival tonight. Tonight! This is his chance.
-
'I am far too tired to go to any festivals,' Bon says. He's wiping his make-up off carefully, dabbing at his lips and cheek with a wet cloth. 'I've just returned from an entire day at the opening of a new tea-house and am not in the mood for the rabble.'
'The ol' razzle dazzle,' Sukeroku says, and grins when Bon rolls his eyes. 'Come on, it'll be fun.'
Bon soaks the cloth in a small wooden pail. 'No.'
'I want to be with you,' Sukeroku says, and he meets Bon's eyes steadily. 'I mean it.'
There's a silence. 'I won't give up my work for you.'
'Neither will I,' Sukeroku says. 'You have your work and I have mine. See? It works out just fine.'
Last month Sukeroku had come in, drunk off his ass, and caught Bon holding an ear pick with a client in his lap. Sukeroku had seen red, and long story short it had ended with Sukeroku being thrown out of the establishment on his ass and Bon refusing to meet him for weeks after.
'I care about you,' Sukeroku says. He really, truly does. And he doesn't doubt that Bon knows it, either.
