Chapter Text
Sasaki didn't realize how bad it got.
It had only been a few months ago when Miyano quit his old job at
that company
(just the mere thought of them made Sasaki grind his teeth). Sasaki remembered what a messy affair it all had been and how, in the end, they had to hold an intervention for Miyano to finally see sense and leave– for his own health and happiness. And Sasaki will say with full certainty that things
are
a thousand-times better than they used to be.
No more leaving early and coming home late; no more darkening eyebags that only deepen by the day; no more watching a completely overworked and exhausted Miyano come home late at night to only get up early the next day to rinse and repeat.
And after taking the time to rest and recover (which Sasaki had to practically force him to do in the first place), Miyano slowly picked his life up again; at first starting to work half-time, which eventually evolved into full-time at his hobby-turned-job. Granted, not everything was magically perfect, and there were still days when Miyano overworked himself and took on more work than necessary, but bad habits died hard (regardless of how much it hurt them all to see) and the biggest difference being that Miyano was
happy
now.
In contrast to his old job, he
loves
his current work. It wasn’t pressure but
passion
that made him stay longer, work harder, and take his work home. Sasaki was mostly just relieved to see how much happier and healthier his boyfriend is now and he was more than willing to drag him away from work when Miyano started to over do it again.
Which brought him to his current predicament.
For a while now, Sasaki had watched Miyano come home from work or wake up in the morning and see him grimace in pain when he moved in a certain way– rolling his wrists or shoulders constantly, flexing his hand, massaging the muscles in his arms absentmindedly. It dawned on him during dinner that this has been going on for weeks unaddressed now and is starting to prove itself to be a serious problem, when Miyano’s hand spasmed and dropped his fork. Setting down his own fork, Sasaki reached across the table and took the tense hand into his, massaging it softly as he looked at his boyfriend with concern.
“This has been going on for a while now,” he murmured, frowning at the tight muscles he could feel under the skin. Miyano avoided his eyes, looking down at his plate, his expression just as tense as his muscles, but did not take his hand back.
“It’s… I can handle it, you don’t have to worry about it.”
“No, Kazu, don’t. I’m your boyfriend, it’s exactly what I should be doing. You said it best yourself, ‘I don’t have to, but I want to’,” honey-brown eyes widen with recognition at the familiar words. “‘I want to share your happiness, your sadness, your anger, your grief, and your everything else you’re willing to share, and share mine with you in turn.’ Just, please tell me what’s wrong,” Sasaki pleaded.
Looking stunned into his eyes, Miyano broke the silence with a little laugh. “You– I can’t believe you remembered that. We were still in high school!” Sasaki smiled, his shoulders losing some of the tension in them.
“How could I ever forget that day? You were so cool then, I thought my heart would burst out of my chest at the time.” That confession made Miyano blush a little but he did nothing to hide it, instead smiling openly and lovingly at him.
God, that gesture hit home how long it has been since their high school days and how much they have grown as people since then.
As time had passed, Miyano got less embarrassed and flustered by Sasaki’s open confessions of affection, often returning them himself in turn. He has learned over time to find his confidence in the comfort of their home, to not feel shame for receiving and expressing love and affection. In fact, it was becoming more common for him to be the one to be able to make Sasaki blush instead and that was something Miyano took great pride in. Though, when the couple are outside, he still gets easily embarrassed and scolds Sasaki for being too ‘unfair’ with a beet-red face.
“Well, you messed up the second part a bit, but fair is fair,” Miyano resigned with a sigh.
Leaning his head onto the palm of his other hand, he calmly watched Sasaki’s fingers work at the knots in his hand and wrist. “You know how I take a bag with me to and from work?”
“You mean the bag I always tell you to leave at home? Or at work? That looks like it’s about to fall apart at any moment?”
“And I always tell you that I need it for my work. But yes, that bag. Ever since I’ve been working full-time again, it just started to get so heavy, it feels like my fingers or even whole arm are gonna fall off when I get home one of these days. They feel so sore or tense and recently started to cramp too like now,” he sighed again and let out a grunt when Sasaki pressed against a particularly tight knot. Sasaki frowned, wishing that Miyano would not be so stubborn sometimes but then again, that was a part of him that Sasaki loved nonetheless, even now.
“You could leave some of it behind, or have more of the work on your laptop?” He offered. Miyano thought about it, but shook his head.
“I work better with it on paper and prefer it actually. Can you imagine the headache I’d get if I read on screen almost the entire day? No thank you.”
The conversation naturally trailed off, both thinking about what they could do to solve it, but coming up blank. After some minutes, Sasaki let Miyano’s hand go, the limb now marginally less tense. Miyano flexed his fingers, visibly relieved by the lack of pain.
“Thank you, Shuu.”
“No problem,” Sasaki smiled, though internally unhappy about being unable to help his partner. “Anytime.”
Miyano sheepishly smiled back at him. “I might have to take you up on that.”
They finished eating and cleaning up dinner, winding down together until it was time for bed. As they cuddled under the sheets with Sasaki wrapped around his shorter partner and his chest pressed against his back (they regularly switched up who was the little and big spoon, sometimes neither being it, but tonight Miyano could tell that Sasaki needed this), his mind wandered back to the conversation from earlier.
He did not like seeing Miyano suffer in any way, but what could he do? It is not like they could hold another intervention, as this was a different situation than before. First of all, Miyano has been so happy since starting his new job and he would hate to take that away from him. The last thing Sasaki ever wants to be is the controlling and overprotective boyfriend. But what then?
Carrying less? No, knowing Miyano, he would not do it unless there was less workload in the first place. Digitalise? No, Miyano already denied that option.
Get a new back?
Thinking about it, Miyano did mention that the straps of the bag dug into his fingers and shoulder. Sasaki knew the bag Miyano took, the grey-blue school-bag handbag had its own place in their home, leaning against the wall right by the dinner table for Miyano to work at. Its straps are on the thinner side and the material is overall rather worn down. Sasaki was not joking when he said that it looks like it is about to fall apart any second.
A new bag might fix Miyano’s problem though, Sasaki realized.
A thicker and more padded strap would help with it digging into him. And maybe even a different kind of bag? Handbags are useful but not very practical for carrying heavy loads. So, something that is made for heavy stuff, maybe even with more straps to distribute the weight… Something like… a backpack?
His eyes widened at the epiphany, feeling like an idiot for not thinking about it sooner. If he would not jostle Miyano while doing so, Sasaki would be facepalming right now.
Sasaki felt lighter now that he had a solution for their problem, already imagining his Miya’s reaction. He’d be happy , Sasaki was sure of that. He nuzzled into his love’s back, relaxing into the warmth and familiar scent of Miyano. He’d be touched by the gesture, happy that I was thinking of him , about that, Sasaki has no doubt.
He might not wholly trust himself, even after all these years, but Sasaki could never doubt Miyano’s love for him.
|=|=|=|
The sound of the door opening and closing rang through the apartment. “I’m home!”
“Welcome home!” Greeted a voice from the kitchen. A tired but satisfied Miyano walked in, setting his workbag by the dinner table and massaging his shoulder as he looked curiously over at his boyfriend, who was fiddling with the oven.
“What’re you doing?” Turning around, Sasaki sent him a cheeky grin.
“It’s a lil’ surprise,” walking over, he took Miyano by the shoulders and pushed him towards the sofa. “C’mon, sit down, I bet you’re tired from work.” Confused, Miyano let himself be led and sat down onto the cushions.
“What’s all this about?” Sasaki booped him on his nose.
“It’s a surprise~ . I just wanna pamper my boyfriend once in a while, is that so wrong?” Miyano smiled bemused.
“Suuure?” Sasaki winked playfully at him.
“Just wait here until I’m done. Isn’t the new episode from that anime coming out today?” Honey eyes widened.
“Oh yeah, it is!” Excited, Miyano turned on their TV and pulled up the new episode.
Despite the distraction, he could still feel a pair of eyes on his back as he returned to the kitchen, but Sasaki did not let his nerves show outwardly. He knew that Miyano would not react in any way negatively to his gift, but the ginger cannot help himself from feeling a little nervous. Well, feeling nervous just means I care about this, which I do.
Taking the baked goods out of the oven, he put it down on the countertop at an angle a certain someone sitting on the sofa cannot see.
Glancing back to the living room and seeing his boyfriend enraptured by the scene on the screen, he carefully crept his way to their bedroom where he hid his gift in the closet. He bought it after a week of thorough research and careful consideration. After all, Sasaki only wants the best of the best for Miyano. Sneaking back to the kitchen, he hid it in the corner from view for later.
He quietly set the table up, with the treat in the middle of the table, as the episode drew to a close.
The last notes of the outro faded away and as expected, the words soon followed. “That was so good. The music in the street scene fit so well and underline the dynamic of the characters wonderfully. And the–” Miyano gushed, eyes shining as he animatedly gesticulated with his hands. He did not stop even as Sasaki pulled him up from the sofa and moved him to the dinner table to sit. Only when he took a moment to breathe did he notice what was before him. “Oh… What’s this?”
Watching him lean closer to look at the dessert, Sasaki could hardly suppress a fond smile. “This is Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake and dark chocolate drizzle,” he cut the cake into pieces and placed one on Miyano’s plate. “Tangy with a refreshing citrusy brightness and, most importantly, not too sweet.” He added with a wink. Taking a bite, honey-gold eyes sparkled at the taste.
“This is great! You really outdid yourself, Shuumei,” Miyano praised, being quite taken by the cake’s flavour with the added bittersweetness of the dark chocolate. Noticing that he was the only one eating, Miyano frowned slightly. “But what about you?”
Sasaki’s eyebrows shot up before waving him off. “It’s fine, I’m not hungry. Besides, we still have dinner later and my appetite right now is ruined after–,” he shivered with a grimace, looking ill just by the memory of it. “Taking a bite of the cake earlier.” Miyano guffawed.
“You didn’t have to test it!”
“Of course I had to,” Sasaki protested. “How else will I know if it’s good enough for you?” That again made Miyano chuckle, though looking unbelievably fond.
“As much as I appreciate the gesture, I more than anything want to know what brought it on,” Miyano said after he finished the cake, the rest put away in the fridge for later.
“Can’t a boyfriend want to spoil his boyfriend ‘just because’?” Sasaki joked. Miyano looked at him deadpan. Coughing, Sasaki felt his face start to heat up under the stare. “And I… have a gift for you.” Eyebrows shooting up in surprise, Miyano tilted his head. God, he’s killing me! So cute!
“Did I miss something? It’s no one’s birthday and Valentine’s is in February, so why…”
“It’s nothing like that,” Sasaki quickly reassured. “I– Well, do you remember the conversation we had over a week ago? About your muscle pains?” After a few seconds, Miyano nodded. “I thought more about what we could do to fix it, and I came up with a solution! Wait a sec–” Sasaki stood up and walked into the kitchen, quickly grabbing the gift. Returning to the table, he handed it over to a puzzled Miyano.
Turning the wrapped gift over, Miyano could not really tell much about the content, only that it was made out of cloth and rather soft. He carefully unwrapped it until he found himself with a new backpack in hand. It was made out of black fabric and had two broad and padded shoulderstraps. Its size was also noteworthy, by volume alone he would wager that he could put everything from his workbag inside and still have room to spare.
“A backpack?” He wondered outloud, glancing up at Sasaki.
“To replace your current workbag. I figured that a backpack should help with the pain and make it stop.” Sasaki explained nervously, fidgeting under the stare increasing the longer the silence stretched on.
“Oh, Shuu,” he startled when Miyano suddenly hugged him, having not noticed him rounding the table. “I love it! To think that you’ve been thinking about it since, makes me so happy.” Hazel and Honey eyes meet.
A slow smile spread over Sasaki’s face. “Glad you like it, Kazu!” He hugged back fiercely, squeezing out a small squeak out of Miyano.
“You– Two can play this game!” Sasaki’s eyes blew open as he found himself pulled out of his chair and, for just a brief moment, felt his feet momentarily lose contact with the floor. “Revenge!” Miyano laughed freely, eyes closed with how wide his smile was. He completely missed how red his boyfriend’s face got. Sasaki stared stunned down at him, his brain struggling to compute what just had happened. Miyano… lifted…?
Hiding his face behind a hand, he fought with a new heat running through his veins as his face burned . O-oh god.
Miyano’s laugh trailed off and he finally noticed how strangely silent Sasaki was. “Shuumei?” He jumped when a ginger head buried itself into his shoulder.
“ Unfair… ” Came the muffled whine from the taller.
“What’s with you today,” Miyano idly chuckled goodnaturelly, rubbing his love’s back as he worked through whatever set him off this time. Miyano turned his head and kissed the side of his head. “Thanks for the gift, Shuu,” he whispered right by his ear, sending a shiver down Sasaki’s spine that didn’t help!
“You’re welcome, Kazu…” One problem dealt with, now onto another…