Satoshi Holmes. The name that causes fear in the very core of his enemies. Well, at least the ones that know it. Most only know him as a higher up in one of the local mafia families. There’s even rumors of him taking over someday.

Satoshi for the most part isn’t one for that kind of lime-light. He prefers a more… shadowed role. He’s the puppeteer behind the scenes, not the star of the show. He’s the brains, seeing every possibility and making the plans. He lets others enact those plans, lets them do the heavy lifting while he watches them unfold. Not to say he lazily pushes things on others. No, he always does his role with all of his ability and then trusts his men to follow through.

The point is he’s usually the one making the plans, not the one doing them. And this has become a problem when he finds himself lingering in a particular cafe for the third time this week. He found this place last week and discovered they have mocha muffins that he would legitimately kill someone to have on a regular basis. But that’s not why he finds himself lingering. The muffin he could easily just buy and be on his way. The problem is… his waiter is hot. Like, objectively, he can acknowledge when people are conventionally attractive, but this is more than that. He’s never actually been attracted to those people. This guy is different.

Now, for all his strategy and understanding of human nature, Satoshi doesn’t have much experience actually interacting with people normally. His position works best when he stays in the shadows of society and even within the world he inhabits, most of his interaction with others are people who fearfully respect him. How do people interact with others in a normal setting? He really doesn’t want to mess this up….

He makes plan after plan, always abandoning them out of a lack of confidence about them working. Even if he comes up with the perfect plan, he then needs the courage to put it in motion. He is probably one of the top ten most powerful men in the city. He should be able to get anything he wants.... He is a coward.

For all his power and fearlessness in the face of mortal danger, this one cheerful man terrifies him. He’s scared of giving his heart just to have it shattered, scared of tainting the pure angel that smiles without fear, scared of… He’s scared of the unknown world that could be opened to him if he takes that first step.

So he shyly smiles and orders a muffin with coffee which he takes much longer to finish than it should. Then he observes the bubbly blonde over the coffee he nurses long after it grows cold. There is an airiness to his movements. As if gravity has less effect on him or the very air itself helps him move about. It fills Satoshi with wonder to watch.

The fifth time he finds himself loitering, a dark haired man with a dangerous glint in his eye slides into the seat across from Satoshi. He is irritated about the distraction, but the man gets his attention when he finally speaks.

“What are your intentions with my brother?” Satoshi is confused until the man gestures towards the attractive waiter. “You only ever stick around for long when he’s working. It wasn’t hard to figure out the common factor. So, I’ll ask you again, what is your intent?”

Satoshi gets the feeling that it would be very bad for him if he gives an answer that the dark stranger doesn’t like. “I’m… not fully sure.” He decides to go with honesty. “I find myself attracted to him, but I can’t seem to get up the courage to do anything about it. I spend all of the time I’m here just trying to figure out how to even become on friendly terms with him…. If it ever became more than that, it would be by his choice.” The stranger has a slight smirk.

“So you really don’t know who we are…” Satoshi shakes his head. Should he? He doesn’t keep track of celebrities, only people of real power, and he doesn’t remember ever seeing either of them outside of this cafe. The man stands to leave. “Well, I look forward to seeing you again soon, Mister Holmes.” Satoshi never gave his name. This man knows him, knows about who he is. There’s only one way he would know something like that.

They are part of the same world.