Chapter Text
‘Okay so,’ Aoi sipped on the coffee. He looked on the impressive pile of books on the table. ‘Uruha has never mentioned that you are a writer. You wrote those?’
‘No, no, no, no.’ Reita shook his head multiple times. ‘Of course not. I publish them. I mean my company does.’ He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. ‘Not like my company obviously, I just work there.’
‘I see’ Aoi said and took one of the books in his hand to read the summary on the back of it. It seemed interesting. Maybe not something Aoi would usually reach out for, not that he was a bookworm anyway. But it looked like it was a good thriller.
‘Uruha has never told me what kind of taste do you have or what you like so whenever I don’t know the person well I just turn to books as gifts, you know’ Reita sipped on the tea. ‘And those we publish I know are good because I review them personally, so yeah.’
‘You shouldn’t have bothered yourself with any gifts.’ Aoi waved the younger off. ‘I haven’t read anything in a while so I will definitely give them a fair shoot. Maybe Uruha will read them as well.’
‘I wouldn’t expect that’ Reita laughed out loud. ‘He will more willingly watch a movie than read a book. I know that man for over twenty years already. By the way, where is he?’
A good question, Aoi thought. Where was that bastard, no one really knew. His phone was turned off for over twenty minutes. He didn’t say anything about being late prior to turning it so Aoi assumed Uruha forgot to charge his iPhone overnight. And it wasn’t the first, nor the fifteenth time. Maybe the hundredth one. It wasn’t the most comfortable to sit at a table with a person you meet for the first time ever. Reita was for sure an easy going guy but there were slowly running out of the things to talk about. Well, there was always a small talk about the weather left, right.
After few more awkward minutes of trying to get to know each other, Uruha finally appeared in the kitchen door. His lips widened in a smile when he saw the two people he adored. ‘Hey, Reita!’ he greeted his friend and rushed to shake his hand. A warm hug from Reita followed the handshake. Then Uruha walked to the the other side of table to greet his boyfriend with a soft kiss on the lips. ‘Before you start scolding me…’
‘Hey!’ Aoi immediately defended himself. ‘I didn’t want to scream at you or anything.’
‘Oh.’ Uruha’s eyes widened. ‘Really?’
‘No, idiot’ Aoi mumbled and rolled his eyes. He could hear Reita chuckling on the other side of the table and Aoi felt his cheeks getting warmer.
‘Ah, yeah, of course.’ Uruha’s tone turned into a deadly serious one. He sat on a chair next to Aoi’s and wrapped his arm around Aoi’s shoulders. ‘My precious sunshine never scolds at me when I get home half an hour late, after not giving a sign of living, because I forgot to charge my phone overnight.’
‘Shut up’ Aoi barked and elbowed his boyfriend.
‘You two are really cute together’ Reita kept on chuckling. ‘I’m very happy for the both of you.’
‘Enough about boring stuff.’ Uruha pulled Aoi closer to himself and smiled at him for few seconds. ‘What I am curious about is your stay in States. Tell me all about it.’
And the three of them kept talking over a cup of coffee. Reita shared some stories about his business trip to U.S. Uruha talked about his relationship with Aoi, not being able to stop himself from dropping a ‘how much he was lucky to find such a perfect man’ here and there, making the older extremely embarrassed. But overall Aoi was really grateful he finally had a chance to meet Reita. It was no longer the croc-wearing, hilarious gym rat that Uruha was always talking about. He was a smart businessman, a book worm and a fun person to be around.
‘I finally grew to fully like my upper body’ Reita admitted in front of the pair. As a proof he raised his arm up in the air and flexed his muscles.
‘Wow!’ Aoi awed. The arms of the younger were indeed very impressive. Aoi didn’t even know there were so many muscles on an arm. What was extremely flattering about it was that unless Reita flexed the muscles, no one could really tell he was so ripped. ‘That’s amazing!’
‘Yeah, thanks’ Reita lowered his arm, a huge smile on his face. ‘I have been working hard on it.’
‘Maybe we should start going to the gym, what do you think, ‘ruha?’ Aoi asked. Because, frankly speaking, there was an outburst of a motivation when he looked how good looking Reita was.
When Uruha wasn’t answering for quite a while, Aoi looked at Uruha, whose face clearly showed one of those looks. Those ones that said ‘I am this close to breaking up with you, what are you even talking about, this is a disgusting idea, please go home.’
‘I prefer my jogging’ Uruha summed up what his face expression was trying to say.
But Aoi found Reita’s body shape so flattering that in the end he decided to sign up to the gym. Two or three times a week, depending on the work schedule he went there together with Reita. Of course, the first two weeks were hard on his body. And on Uruha. Because every time Aoi came back the complaining just wouldn’t stop. Yet Uruha was there patiently listening to everything or even preparing a hot bath for Aoi’s sore muscles. Moreover, he kept of cheering him up and motivating him. With kisses. Lots of kisses.
Aoi’s pain and suffering turned out to be worth it, when he stood shirtless in front of the mirror one day and saw the first visible results. Uruha was right behind him, resting his chin on Aoi’s shoulder. One of Uruha’s hands grabbed Aoi’s hip. He travelled his right palm on Aoi’s stomach, looking in the mirror. A short awe escaped from Uruha’s lips while he was feeling Aoi’s muscles. He kept on rubbing the belly like that for few seconds, purring right next to Aoi’s ear, making goosebumps appear on Aoi’s skin.
And Aoi was extremely proud that even after few months of being in a relationship, he was still able to elice a ‘wow’ from Uruha. He really wanted to keep on proving Uruha that he was trying to get better and better. Not that Uruha has ever complained. Teasing Aoi, on the other hand, was a completely different story. Even later on that day, when both of them were having a chill moment in bed, Uruha couldn’t help but throw a joke or two.
Aoi was laying on the bed and watching a new Netflix original tv series recommended by Kai, when Uruha entered the bedroom, Nintendo Switch in his hand. Shamelessly, not even asking for permission he lied his head on top of Aoi’s stomach, sprawling his body on the mattress. It would have been completely okay with Aoi, if he was peacefully playing on the console as he usually did. But for some reason the younger was shifting his head uncomfortably, digging into Aoi’s insides.
‘What are you doing Uruha?’ Aoi asked, annoyed. ‘It hurts.’
‘I don’t know.’ Uruha put away the Switch turned his head in another direction. ‘I think I am missing your beer belly.’
‘What?!’ The older slapped Uruha’s shoulder with moderate force. ‘You asshole!’
‘Yeah,’ Uruha confirmed, a smirk appearing on his face. ‘It was much more comfy to lie on.’ He lifted his head for a moment just to lift the hem of Aoi’s t-shirt up, exposing his belly. His left cheek was soon enough pressed right between Aoi’s hip points. Uruha’s gaze was fixated on the flesh before him.
Aoi could almost feel directly on his skin, how much Uruha’s eyes wanted to devour him. He noticed how Uruha’s smirk started very slowly fading into a gentle curl of lips. Shortly, Uruha’s look was much more softer as well. That change was immediately followed with Uruha pressing his lips to the skin before him. Aoi hoped the little bush of hair that he let himself grow out wouldn’t stop Uruha. Because whatever Uruha was doing, made Aoi melt completely into the touch.
As expected, Uruha didn’t stop at all. Maybe those few little hair were tickling him whenever he placed a soft kiss on Aoi’s belly skin, but he didn’t mind it at all. Quite on the contrary, he found them hot as hell. ‘I still can’t believe you were pierced here’ he chuckled and circled his tongue around Aoi’s bellybutton.
‘Guys liked it.’ Aoi cocked an eyebrow at his boyfriend. ‘Jealous you didn’t get to play with it ever?’
‘Not much really.’ Uruha was leaving a trail of slightly wet kisses along the Aoi’s abs line, travelling his head higher and higher. ‘I get to touch this body of yours, I’m lucky enough.’
‘I quite vividly remember someone saying he misses my beer belly just moments ago’ Aoi said, confused.
‘Aoi,’ Uruha started. He sighed deeply, hot air hitting the skin between Aoi’s pectoral muscles. ‘Whatever shape you are in,’ he placed a kiss on Aoi’s sternum. ‘I don’t care.’ Kiss. ‘There is so much more that I love,’ kiss. ‘About you than your abs or biceps.’ Kiss. ‘How your skin flushes.’ Kiss. ‘How your eyes sparkle up.’ Uruha reached Aoi’s neck. He pulled up, looking at Aoi’s face. ‘How you turn your face away from me, even though you are forty. Because you still get embarrassed of being complimented so much.’ Uruha let out a low chuckle, grabbed Aoi’s chin and made Aoi look him in the eyes, just to lean in and put his plush lips on top of Aoi’s ones.
The older couldn’t help but smile against the touch. There was nothing rushing them so Aoi drunk the few gentle kisses before he let Uruha deepen it. Those goddamn butterflies were hitting all around his insides when Uruha blindly changed the position and carefully parted Aoi’s thighs, placing his leg between them. Aoi could never explain to himself how that one blonde guy made him feel so fresh and young. And he couldn’t thank him enough for making him relive his youth.
The last thing Aoi did that evening was throwing a duvet over their spent bodies. Uruha already dozed off so Aoi didn’t even bother with a ‘Good night’. He did wriggle closer to Uruha’s body and perched his naked arse to ever so gently have it touching Uruha’s one. Perfect, he thought, shifting his head on the pillow. And before falling asleep he made a mental note to remind Uruha that he agreed on changing the sheets himself. Even though he obviously did not.
The Weeknd’s song was slowly fading out, Uruha jamming to it in the passenger seat. Ruki showed him that new artist at one of his parties. ‘So what do you think?’
‘It was,’ Aoi sighed, weighing the words. ‘It was alright. I won’t mind listening to it during the roadtrips. It’s catchy.’
‘He is playing in Tokyo next month’ Uruha said, the tone of his voice very suggestive. ‘I would love to see him.’
‘I see’ Aoi huffed. Every time they went to either Ruki’s gallery opening or just a casual party, Uruha could never stop himself from saying how cool Ruki was. Ruki is such an extraordinary artist. Ruki has got such an unique style. Ruki this, Ruki that. Yadda, yadda. It was almost as if his boyfriend suddenly became Ruki’s number one fan. ‘Then go with Ruki.’
‘What?’ Uruha could sense the bitterness in Aoi’s tone. It didn’t anger him or anything, more of amused. ‘I wanted to go with you.’
‘I don’t want to go to that gig with you, though’ Aoi shrugged his shoulders. ‘You can go with Ruki, I’m cool with it.’ He struggled hard not to look at Uruha’s to see his reaction. Because he was so afraid there would be excitement painted all over it.
‘Why are you jealous, baby?’ Uruha asked straightforwardly.
‘Jealous?!’ Aoi fired out. Way too quickly not to confirm that he indeed was. A lot. ‘Please, like I would be jealous’ he lied. ‘What kind of competition Ruki is for me really, pf !’
‘None’ Uruha chuckled. ‘He isn’t you and I only love you, idiot.’
It would be a lie if Aoi said that it wasn’t what he expected Uruha to say. Yes, of course he was being a little bit of the usual drama queen and at the back of his head he already knew he had nothing to be jealous of. Yet hearing those words from Uruha made him relieved. ‘That’s why I said you can go with him.’
‘And you are fully okay with it?’ Uruha had to make sure.
‘It’s not like you have to spend every moment of your life with me now.’ Aoi took his gaze off the road for few seconds to conformingly look in Uruha’s eyes. ‘I mean I will get a little bit jealous but it is not that I will die because of it.’’
‘Simply be a little bitchy for a day or two, right?’ The younger teased and smiled widely when Aoi tried froze him with a deadly glare. ‘You’re the best, babe.’ Uruha leaned in and kissed him on a cheek.
‘I’m driving’ Aoi growled, still annoyed how well Uruha was abe to read him. Not that it was particularly hard when he wore all of his emotions on his sleeve.
‘You know what, though? There is another concert we could go to together’ Uruha offered.
‘Yeah?’ Aoi urged Uruha to elaborate on it, but instead he saw Uruha reaching for his phone and scrolled through his Apple music desktop. Soon enough there were few familiar beats coming out of the car speakers. And Aoi already knew what he had to say about it. ‘No.’
‘Aaaoooiiii’ Uruha elongated the vowels in a disgustingly sweet manner. ‘Pleeeeaaaseeee.’
‘There is no way I am going to a Nickelback concert with you, Uruha.’ Aoi was already getting a mild headache from the song. ‘I draw line at that.’
‘Please, please, please’ Uruha shamelessly begged. ‘Come on, they are pretty good.’
‘No, they are not.’ Aoi barked. However it didn’t stop Uruha’s pleas. Aoi reached the knob on the car radio and turned the volume down. ‘I said no!’ A dead silence followed Aoi’s scream. For a second or two Aoi even thought that he was slightly too harsh on his man. Just in time when Aoi’s mouth was opening to apologize Uruha decided for a last desperate try.
‘Pleaaaaaaaaseeeeeee’ he screamed, raising the volume slowly and adjusting the loudness of his scream to the track.
‘Jesus Christ, fine .’ Aoi gave in and laughed out loud. He had a weak spot for Uruha making him laugh, what could he do. ‘You won, I will go with you.’
‘I love you’ Uruha said and came back to sitting comfortably. There was a huge devilish grin on his face.
‘I love you too’ Aoi mumbled back. Did he really just agree to see goddamn Nickelback with Uruha? Jesus. But he had to admit it was quite hard for him not to start bobbing his head to the beat of the song Uruha was playing. It was catchy, okay. Well, remembering all of their songs basically sounded the same, maybe they weren’t as bad, Aoi thought. Two tracks later he caught himself subconsciously slapping the steering wheel to the rhythm of ‘Never gonna be alone’. And yes, he could sense in the air the huge smirk rising on Uruha’s face.
When they finally reached the destination, Aoi couldn’t believe his eyes. It definitely wasn’t what he thought when Uruha said he rented them a little wooden shed in the woods for a week. First of all, it wasn’t small. Second of all, it wasn’t exactly in the woods. It had access to the lake. Aoi parked the car. ‘’Ruha are you sure this is the place?’
‘Yes, it looks the same, look.’ He turned the screen of his iPhone towards Aoi. ‘The address is correct, so yes, it is here.’
‘Can we even afford it?’ Aoi choked out. Ever since they moved in together and decided to open a shared bank account, Aoi wasn’t worrying about money. Their paychecks combined provided a comfortable life. And neither of them had expensive taste.
‘Of course we can’ Uruha chuckled. ‘It wasn’t even that expensive.’ He unbuckled and opened the door. ‘Are you coming or not?’
Aoi jumped out of the car and opened the trunk to take out a suitcase and two bags that they packed into. Uruha was talking over the phone with an owner of the house, asking about the keys. Even though he was listening carefully to the instructions he spared a second to mouth ‘Leave it.’ and wave a hand at Aoi. So Aoi placed the two bags on the ground and followed Uruha to the front door.
It only took the younger a minute to unlock the padlock next to door with a code and fish a key out of a little box. He opened the front door and held it for Aoi to come through. ‘Welcome on the holidays’ he said.
‘One more thing,’ Aoi started. He put the suitcase in the house and raised a finger at Uruha. ‘No work. If there is someone calling from work, you decline it.’
‘What if…’ Uruha wanted to say something but got a finger being threateningly shaken right before his face so he decided against it. ‘Okay. I disappeared for a week.’
‘Exactly.’ Aoi smiled and walked through the front door. ‘I kidnapped you.’
The insides of the house were as impressive as the outsides. It was quite of a shock to Aoi how accurate Uruha has got to a dream holiday. A wooden house. At the lake. Perfect. Aoi wondered if Uruha knew him so well already, was a mind-reader or simply forced Ruki to spill some informations about Aoi.
At the end of a long narrow corridor was a small kitchen where they left the groceries at. Right next to the kitchen was a spacious living room combined with a dining room. Of course, there was a kotatsu instead of a usual coffee table, Aoi shook his head. Not that he didn’t fantasize about drinking a coffee with Uruha, hiding from the chilliness of the early spring morning under a heated kotatsu.
Upstairs there was a neat bathroom with a huge bathtub in it that Aoi couldn’t wait to use. But at that moment he was more interested in finding the bedroom, wanting to get some rest after driving a car for quite a while. So as soon as he found the right door, he was there lying sprawled in the middle of the mattress, yelling in the sheets from the pleasure of stretching out his joints.
‘For a moment I thought they left a dying whale somewhere in the house’ Uruha joked. He sat on the bed. ‘Nap time?’
‘If you don’t mind’ Aoi mumbled, genuinely tired.
‘Why would I, babe.’ Uruha reached out for a blanket that was thrown over the headboard. He covered Aoi with it. ‘Take a nap and I will unpack us.’
‘Thanks.’ Aoi already closed his eyes, about to doze off. And he could already think of a one devil way to thank his boyfriend later on.
‘ Hnnnn, shit, Aoi’ Uruha moaned loudly. ‘Yes, Aoi, right there.’
‘Harder?’ Aoi asked. He couldn’t not tease his boyfriend. ‘Do you want it harder?’
‘Yes baby, please’ the blond begged, shamelessly. ‘Yes!’ he screamed in pleasure.
Aoi was sitting on top of Uruha’s non-existent ass, skilfully sliding his palm on Uruha’s back. When he reached the left arm he put more pressure on the wrist and kneaded the flesh with his fingers. That elicited a deep, hot groan from Uruha. And Aoi couldn’t stop himself from smirking. Because knowing that he was a reason behind such wonderful sounds, it made him so damn proud of himself. They were very addictive, though. Therefore soon Aoi focused on the other shoulder, giving it the same treatment.
So many hours before the computer screen obviously gave his boyfriend sore and tensed muscles. No matter how many times Aoi scolded him about the bad posture, Uruha would always come and complain about the back pain. There was no puppy eyes pleading, but whenever Aoi proposed a massage, Uruha’s eyes lit up so beautifully, Aoi couldn’t back out of it. The hot groans were enough of a reward for him.
Aoi kept on going with the touches until he was satisfied. Until Uruha’s skin was warm and red, to be exact. The older lowered himself and rubbed his cheek against hot skin of Uruha’s shoulder blade, enjoying the feel. He turned his face and placed few gentle kisses along Uruha’s shoulder. After that, he bit on the protruding end of a clavicle on top of Uruha’s arm. And it wasn’t a gentle bite.
‘Hey!’ Uruha screamed. ‘That hurt.’
‘Boo hoo, and what are you going to do about it?’ He clamped his teeth on the arm muscles.
When Aoi eased on the bite, Uruha used that little space and rolled over, now facing Aoi’s smug face. Those sparkling black eyes only added on heaviness to it. As soon as Uruha was laying flat on his back, Aoi gently sat on his lower abdomen and placed his palms on top of Uruha’s arms. He had Uruha successfully immobilized Uruha.
Looking straight into Uruha’s curious eyes, Aoi lined his face up with Uruha’s one. He noticed how his boyfriend closed his eyes, getting ready to receive a kiss. But Aoi had something else in mind. He shook his head few times, letting the strands of hair fall off from behind his ears, straight on Uruha’s face. Aoi turned his face right, to left, to right, to left, making the hair glide on Uruha’s skin and annoy him.
‘Aoi...’ Uruha pouted, disappointed.
As an answer, Aoi pulled back a bit and smirked. Then he started slowly lowering his head, bit by bit, bit by bit. Until his lips were about few millimeters away from Uruha’s ones. He could practically feel Uruha’s breath medleying with his own. After few seconds of enjoying that intimate moment, he gave in and pressed his mouth on top of Uruha’s one. Aoi let go of Uruha’s arms and immediately felt them wrapping around his waist, pressing him closer to Uruha’s body. It resulted in him delivering a yelp straight into Uruha’s mouth. And it felt damn hot.
‘Could you stop using that stupid squid on me?!’ Aoi huffed. He was lying on the bed with his legs high in the air perched on the headboard. In the room only the mad smashing of buttons could be heard. ‘Uruha!’
‘It’s not my fault you are so bad at it’ Uruha laughed. His feet were hanging freely off the mattress, his head aligned with Aoi’s one. ‘Collect more coins, I am telling you.’
‘I’m trying!’ Aoi growled. The thing he hated the most was losing. And losing six times in a row was not fun. At all. ‘Hey, that’s not fair! I’ve got a stupid banana! The fuck I need a banana for right now?!’
‘Finished!’ Uruha screamed. He turned his head around and up to look at Aoi’s screen. He saw his boyfriend finishing as fifth. ‘Hey, at least it is not tenth.’
‘Shut up’ Aoi barked. ‘One thousand cc is just way too fast for me, I don’t know what is going on.’
‘Yeah but five hundred cc is for losers’ Uruha pointed out. ‘It is boring.’ He pressed back to the main menu of the game. ‘Rematch?’
‘No.’ Aoi turned his switch off, threw it on the bed next to him and crossed his arms. ‘I am apparently a loser so I will be over here minding my own loser business.’
Uruha turned his face towards Aoi and cocked an eyebrow at his boyfriend to see if he was being serious, but when the older didn’t move an inch Uruha shrugged his shoulders. ‘Okay, fine’ he snickered.
Aoi did feel a little bit salty about Uruha giving up that easily but he really didn’t want to lose another time. It was so annoying that Uruha wasn’t ever going easy on him when they played games together. Competitive bastard.
Soon Aoi heard the familiar track of the opening screen for the newest Zelda’s series. Knowing well he did not have anything particular to be mad about, he turned his head around to watch Uruha playing the game. Something about how his forehead wrinkled, just above those thick-rimmed glasses, when he was deeply focused, was making him weak. Add that stubble on top of Uruha’s chin that he couldn’t be bothered to shave off. Those combined left Aoi weak. And he couldn’t deny himself the pleasure of kissing Uruha on the cheek.
‘Oh!’ Uruha looked like he was taken out of a trance. Yet he didn’t stop smashing the buttons on the console.
Seeing Uruha’s face from an upside down angle was definitely a fresh experience for Aoi. All of that staring left him curious. Mainly about how it would feel to kiss Uruha on the lips in that position. So he has kept on leaving feather-like kisses on Uruha’s neck until the younger took a proper notice of his deeds.
‘What’s up?’ Uruha turned off the console, put it aside and turned around to face Aoi. And as a reply came a pair of Aoi’s lips on top of his own ones. It completely surprised him so it took few seconds to adjust to the kiss, especially in that awkward position.
But Aoi would lie if he said that he didn’t enjoy brushing his lips in a completely different way than they usually did. It was one of the sloppiest kisses they have ever shared, but none of them minded it. Quite on the contrary, Aoi blindly searched for side of Uruha’s face with his palm and it only took few seconds for Uruha’s hand to slip his fingers between Aoi’s, pushing on his head, making the kiss even deeper and more intimate.
Uruha entered the room with a bag of sour cream onion potato chips, bowl of popcorn and two bottles of Corona beer in his hands. He sat on the couch right next to Aoi and handed him the beer.
Uruha was wearing nothing but boxers and t-shirt and the fact that the younger’s meaty thighs were on a full display for him was such a delicious sight. And of course, that t-shirt was in a black-blue gradient. Uruha was obsessed with gradient clothing. Because he thought that, quoting him, ‘There was something so fascinating about how two different colors can mix together like that. It is so cool.’. Was there another person on Earth who got that excited about gradients? Aoi doubted it. It must have been only the love of his life that was so fascinated with two colours creating a gradient together. Science, man. But Aoi couldn’t do much more than enjoy the jiggly thighs and shake his head at the t-shirt.
‘What do you think? Are we going to win?’ Uruha asked. He offered some popcorn to Aoi.
‘Frankly speaking,’ Aoi started, trying to make himself sound more professional. ‘I think the change in setting will give us some advantage this time. I am glad we shifted more players to the offensive side. I put much hope into today’s performance of our national soccer team.’
‘I think it will be a draw’ Uruha shrugged. He reached for a TV remote, completely ignoring Aoi rolling eyes at him.
As soon as the first whistle was drawn, Aoi was already half the Corona down and all emotional. ‘What the fuck, are you blind?!’ he screamed at the TV. ‘Left, left, you idiot, left! Did you see that?!’ He turned to Uruha, throwing his hands in the air.
‘Yeah’ Uruha nodded, packing another handful of potato chips inside his mouth.
‘I pay taxes and this is what I get!’ Aoi screamed when the right wing was robbed of the ball. ‘Pathetic!’
For ninety minutes you could hear Aoi yelling at the TV accompanied by Uruha chomping on potato chips. Four Coronas later, the match actually ended as a draw. One to one. And Aoi kept on complaining all the way to the bedroom. He didn’t stop blabbering even when Uruha thrown his body on the bed already.
Instead, Aoi removed his sweater and changed it for a loose t-shirt, comfortable for sleep. He stepped angrily to the bathroom to do his night routine, starting with removing the contact lenses, cleaning his face and brushing his teeth, ending with putting on a moisturiser. Thanks to all of the massaging he has done to his face, Aoi actually managed to calm down.
Soon he was slipping under the covers next to Uruha. He was convinced the younger was already asleep so he leaned in and kissed him on the forehead.
‘Chilled out a little?’ Uruha opened his eyes and smiled at his boyfriend.
At that moment it hit Aoi. That wave of stinky air coming out of Uruha’s mouth. Onion potato chips mixed with beer. Ew. Aoi immediately pulled away and put a hand around his nose. ‘Your breath stinks. You didn’t even brush your teeth, you slob.’
‘But I’m sleepy’ Uruha murmured. ‘Can’t be bothered.’
‘Get out of here and brush your teeth’ Aoi growled. He really didn’t feel like waking up tomorrow to that smell. Since Uruha didn’t show any willingness to do so, Aoi took it upon himself to help his boyfriend. He put his feet on Uruha’s hip and pushed on it, turning him around. Aoi kept on pushing on Uruha’s back until he was on the edge of the bed. ‘Get. Out.’
Finally Uruha gave in a left the bed. ‘You are such a pain in the ass sometimes’ he growled, half-asleep.
Seeing how miserably Uruha was forcing his limbs to carry him to the bathroom he actually took some pity upon the younger. ‘Don’t trip and die, babe.’
‘Like you would care’ Uruha mumbled and left the bedroom, only to be back in few minutes. He slid under the covers and immediately blew some air in Aoi’s face. ‘Better?’
‘Yep.’ Aoi nodded and turned around. He fluffed his pillow and smashed his face against it. ‘G’night, Uru.’
Uruha sighed deeply and pulled himself closer to Aoi, spooning him properly. ‘Good night, pain in the ass.’ He placed a soft kiss on top of Aoi’s head. His head was soon lied comfortably on the pillow. Uruha was really glad he bribed Aoi into quitting smoking. Now that his skin wasn’t soaked with the smell of cigarettes, the heavenly scent of his lover was successfully lullabying him to sleep.
Aoi threw the fishing rod for the hundredth time that morning yet there were only four little fishes inside his bucket. He did enjoy some alone time on the boat in the middle of the lake. It wasn’t that he didn’t ask Uruha if he wanted to go with him, he did. But he didn’t expect much interest in fishing from Uruha. And after all it was healthy to spend some time on his own. Just him and his thoughts.
The water’s surface was glistening thanks to a sunny weather. Pleasant quietness was surrounding Aoi, only soft sound of the waves hitting the boat and chirping of birds were reaching Aoi’s ears. He breathed in the fresh air deeply, until it made him dizzy.
Such a scenery left Aoi in a very sentimental mood. He reflected back on the past few months of his life and surprised himself how much it has changed over that time. He was happier. Much more happier. For the first time in his life, he felt genuinely loved. And he was sure of his feeling to Uruha as well.
Aoi recognized how much of an improvement Uruha applied to his life. Even though from the outside it seemed like it was Uruha who was doing more, it would be a lie to say so. Aoi was well aware that he helped Uruha with constantly overworking himself and his social life. When they met Uruha was much more closed in his own comfort zone and now he was the one proposing and organizing trips or talking Aoi into going out from time to time.
Uruha was the first one to make him understand that there was no one out there waiting for Aoi to complete. That he was in fact one of a kind, amazing person who was a whole all by himself. Aoi wasn’t aware of that and only few months ago he would call himself selfish for thinking that highly of himself. But next to Uruha he learnt self love. He discovered that he deserved to be loved and he didn’t have to doubt that. Ever. Now he knew it’s wasn’t a never ending game of how much i give, that much i have to take. That you couldn’t weigh and measure how much love you received and how much you gave. You could only remain open to doing both without thinking much about it.
And thanks to how much openly Aoi talked about what he didn’t like, Uruha grew comfortable of sharing his even most hidden grudges as well. Aoi was really grateful Uruha cooled him down few times when he wanted to rush things. He was extremely glad that they managed to learn to listen to each other properly. And that the sex was great.
So Aoi couldn’t not smile widely while rowing back to the shore. Because he knew in that perfect wooden house in that perfect scenery was the not-so-perfect love of his life waiting for him. With a not-so-perfect lunch. Uruha wasn’t much of a good cook after all.
‘You are not wearing that jacket, are you?’ Aoi asked while sliding on his pants.
‘I am, why?’ Uruha confusedly looked at the light jean jacket in his hands.
‘Those went out of fashion about twenty years ago’ Aoi explained and gave his boyfriend a judging look.
‘Well.’ Uruha playfully raised an eyebrow at Aoi. ‘You do make me feel twenty years younger, so I guess it makes sense.’
‘Oh my god! You!’ Aoi grabbed a pillow off the bed and threw it at Uruha. ‘Disgusting.’
And as an answer he got Uruha blowing him a kiss from the other side of the bed. He threw the jacket over his hips and knotted its sleeves, making it hang. That was even more unfashionable addition to Uruha’s ripped jeans and, of course, gradient t-shirt. At least he wasn’t wearing that ugly knitted sweater, Aoi thanked god in his head.
They walked out of the house together, heading to the forest path that would allegedly take them on the other side of the lake. They wanted to see the sun set over the lake. Hiking in the forest while holding hands together was such a pure and simple thing, yet both of them really enjoyed it. It felt so nice, walking by someone’s side at the same speed, in silence, just appreciating each other’s existence.
When they finally reached the platform they were supposed to reach, Aoi leaned on the rail and gasped in awe. ‘The view is so nice from here.’
‘It is’ Uruha confirmed. He wrapped his arms around Aoi’s shoulders and squeezed him close. ‘Now that we are here…’ Uruha begun, an audible uncertainty in his voice. ‘I wanted to ask you something. Something serious.’
Oh my god, Aoi thought. His heart rate was immediately up to million per minute. He didn’t want to get his hopes up or anything because after all they were officially together only for few months. But on the other hand they were together for few months already, goddamnit. They moved it together. And this perfect scenery. Holiday. Oh god, is he really going to do it. Aoi just hoped he would skip that cheesy kneeling and ring part and all. It would be so embarrassing.
‘Yeah?’ Aoi asked, his voice shaky.
‘I was thinking for a while now,’ Uruha was building the tension. ‘I know it might seem like a lot. But. Do you think, we could, eh.’ He swallowed loudly. ‘Adopt a dog?’
Akwefi9w0ifw09weofjw093ir2930ri was an accurate description of what was going on in Aoi’s head at that point. ‘A dog?!’ he managed to choke out.
‘Mhm’ Uruha confirmed. ‘I was thinking a spaniel or a border collie. Something not so small and not that big either.’
‘I mean.’ Aoi was still in quite a shock because it definitely wasn’t a question he expected. He did wanted a dog but that was quite sudden. ‘I mean, we could if you want, we would have to talk it through first. But it doesn’t sound like a bad idea.’
‘Yay!’ Uruha was honestly excited. He embraced his boyfriend in even tighter hug. ‘Now that I’ve got the risky question out of the way. There is one more thing.’ There was a hint of nervousness in his tone this time. ‘Marry me.’
‘What?!’ Aoi yelled out loud. ‘WHAT?!’ he repeated himself even louder and angrier. ‘Are you bloody serious?! First you ask if we want to adopt a dog and now you ask me to marry you, Uruha what the hell?!’
‘Marry me’ Uruha said it again, tightening the embrace even more.
‘Uruha, I, what.’ It were the only words Aoi managed to squeeze out of his throat. It took him few seconds to actually register what that suggestion was really about. ‘Uruha it’s not something I can just, I don’t know, oh my god.’
‘I won’t let go of you until you agree’ Uruha threatened. It turned into a full-strength clasp more than a hug.
‘Of course I want to marry you, you goddamn idiot.’ As soon as Aoi felt the embrace loosen up a bit, he turned around. There was immediately a first landing on Uruha’s chest. ‘Idiot. You are just a one, huge, idiot. That’s all you are.’
‘And you are now my fiance’ Uruha teased and tightened the embrace once again. ‘For better, for worse’ he mocked the wedding vow.
‘Shut up.’ Aoi placed his palm over Uruha’s mouth. ‘You are so unbelievably cheesy and disgusting.’ He uncovered Uruha’s mouth only to put his lips on it and tangle his fingers in Uruha’s hair, pulling him even closer. They kissed passionately, the sunsetting forgotten by that point. ‘I love you, idiot’ Aoi said after they pulled away from each other.
‘I love you too’ Uruha pleaded back. ‘You’re shivering’ he noticed. ‘Do you want my jacket?’
‘I am not wearing your ugly jacket. I am not cold’ Aoi huffed. But it was indeed becoming more chilly when the sun was gone. So he was grateful that Uruha just rolled his love-filled eyes at him, unknotted his jacket and put it on Aoi’s shoulders. Aoi smiled widely and let his face fall freely, his nose landing exactly between his boyfriend’s eminent neck muscles. It fitted there perfectly.
And now, wrapped tightly in Uruha's arms, he knew it was never too late for love.