Archive of Our Own

If someone asked Izumi how he's been since his boyfriend's gone, he'd snort and say that he can finally hear his thoughts and get a proper night's sleep. That the calmness and serenity is a good thing, not boring and unnatural. Arashi always smirks and teases about how she catches Izumi checking his phone every five minutes, for the time and date for Leo's arrival.

"No way in hell," he'd reply, of course. Being in denial is part of who he is as a tsundere.

But internally, Izumi's heart sinks when he's greeted by silence on this afternoon in particular. The quiet isn't he doesn't want to get used to after colors and vibrato unwittingly crashed into his life again.

'Did I get the time wrong?'  he thinks as he sets the groceries aside, wondering if he should make dinner for when Leo's actually back. Upon further inspection, however, he spots luggage in the hall, and is jumped on by the expected intruder soon after.

"Sena! I bought cat litter!"

Oh, of course.

"Ugh, Ou-sama, get off of me," Izumi groans, trying to shrug Leo away especially since he's just changed the litter box.

Soon, Leo's settled at the dinner table, petting Little John in his lap as Izumi makes his meal. Leo speaks animatedly about his trip, while Izumi half-pays attention, mostly focused on messing up their food.

"Of course I want to travel with Sena!" Leo begins, and pouts as he watches his boyfriend pace around. "But Sena had to insist on being boring and going to university. So Mama's always volunteering to coming with me, and knowing so many languages is always a plus!"

At the mention of Leo's sometimes travel companion, Izumi's shoulders tighten. Alright, he's a little jealous, even if it was his own decision. Leo's attuned enough to his Sena's moods to know, of course, so he quickly butters his boyfriend up.

"Let's get married when you're out of school," Leo suggests, as Little John waves his tail in Leo's face. "We can go to America!"

...Alright, that works a little. 

"Can't we do it in Sapporo now? We don't have to go all the way to America," Izumi snorts, although his heart feels like it's going to beat out of his chest. His king, such a free-spirit, childlike and naive, wanting to get married? Who's thought of it like Izumi's honestly dreamed of? Realistically, Izumi thought it would never happen, but he never thought that it'd ever be in Leo's wildest dreams. 

...Blasphemy. It's just one of Leo's passing thoughts. Geniuses were annoying to deal with; Izumi would humor him for now.

"What makes you think I'll say yes?" Izumi snorts, flipping the frying pan one last time. His cheeks are hot, but he'd attribute it to the stove's heat.

"Sena still insists on being tsundere after all this time! If you know this, you've definitely thought about it~" Leo grins, though Izumi's back is turned to face him. "I'm fine with whatever you want."

Leo taps at the table when Little John jumps down from his chair and goes to the other room. "But I want to go everywhere with you too. Graduate already, will ya?"

"...Idiot," Izumi sets their dishes on the dinner table. "I made donburi for you, you can take some to Mikejima the next time you see him."

Leo sinks into his seat, eyes twinkling at the food. When Izumi serves it in front of him, he enthusiastically digs in. "I missed your meals..."

After a while, Izumi speaks up. "Do you know when you're leaving?"

"No jobs yet, not for a while!" Leo beams, stuffing his face with egg. "I know you've missed me a lot~"

"...Tch. How annoying," Izumi mutters, flicking Leo's forehead. Leo pouts, but doesn't point out that Izumi didn't deny him.

"Secchan's gotten soft after becoming a househusband," Ritsu smirks over Leo's iPad as he watches Izumi wash the dishes. The Knights would come over pretty often, a few times a week, but they'd decided to let Izumi have a little Leo time since he'd been gone for so long. Of course, they still had to check up on the duo -- they were like family, after all, with Ritsu currently acting like an annoying little brother who kept waggling his eyebrows at what Leo and Izumi would probably get up to afterhours.

"Shut up, Kuma-kun," Izumi flashes a certain finger to his team member as Leo ignores Ritsu's comments and blabbers on about his latest trip.

Ritsu does talk about how he wants to get married in Sapporo in between their conversations, though. To have his claim over his "Maa-kun." "All those other idols thinking they can hop on Maa-kun, well, they're wr-"

When Ritsu finally hangs up, Izumi shakes his head and sticks out his tongue in dismay. "Maybe not Sapporo. I hear it's legal in Germany now."

Leo's eyes twinkle in delight. "Let's drive on the autobahn!"

"On second thought, maybe not. I barely trust you behind the wheel even now."

"Still so mean," Leo groans, but he's happy that Izumi's still thinking about it.

"Lonely..." Izumi says later that night, face turned over when he's sharing a bed with Leo again. "It's lonely when you're gone."

"Hm?" Leo asks; he heard it, of course, but he wants to hear it again. Izumi doesn't reply. Nonetheless, Leo grins and holds Izumi tighter.

"I know, Sena. I know."

He hums a melody of a tune from long ago, of when Izumi first became Leo's Sena. Occasionally, they'll call each other by first name-- Izumi when he's scolding Leo, being smug, or in fits of passion, Leom when he muses over Izumi's homemaker skills and occasionally to throw his boyfriend off. High school is full of sorrowful memories, but there are also many wonderful ones.

Even if Leo's memory is selective at best he doesn't forget the important things -- being Leo's Sena is perhaps one of the most important things of all. Izumi's now used to calling Leo Ou-sama, although he's still Izumi's Leo-kun, too.

"Lame," Izumi mutters, a blush forming on his cheek as he recognizes A Little Izumi Sena, "Ou-sama is such a romantic, how annoying."  

Leo grins, nuzzling Izumi's neck, "So are you, Sena! You recognize it after all!"

They lay there, the calmness of Leo's humming more soothing than anything he usually does. Izumi is almost asleep in his arms when Leo stops and warmth suddenly dissipates. "Huh? Ou-sam-"

"In-spi-ra-tion!" Leo shouts. Before Izumi knows it, he's assaulted by the slippery feel of markers, one hand writing measures and the other writing notes, simultaneously, damn Leo for being ambidextrous-

"Hey- I have a shoot soon- Ou-sa-" The worst part, Leo touching him all over is turning him on, what the fuck--

"Wahaha! Looks like Sena's inspired too! Two birds, one stone, eh?" Leo still keeps writing on him with marker, but discards the implement in his left hand to gently tug Izumi's shirt off, fingers warm as he traces circles around the model's torso.

"Be quick about it, okay? It's your fault, after all, so take responsibility- Hey-" Izumi's quickly silenced, enraptured by lips pressed against his, and the night is lost to a different kind of flow.

Little John purrs from the closed door, unknowing.