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Asahi took off his glasses to gently blow and shake off the little white fuzzies that clung to them for the tenth time. Though, it could have easily been the forty-fifth time for all Yuu knew. He only started keeping track thirty minutes ago and Asahi had been cutting and stretching that horribly shaggy fabric for at least two hours by now. Yuu would glance over from the couch every few minutes to catch him adjusting and readjusting the scraps of fabric that Yuu assumed was a new project standing right in the middle of their dining room. The dining table being, of course, haphazardly pushed back towards the corner of the room. Asahi had a separate studio room for working but always found his way back to the dining room for some reason. Sometimes when Yuu would return home after running some errands, the infamous mannequin would severely startle him, standing ominously in the center of the room. It didn't help that it was always shrouded in fabric, reminding him of the creepy, blurry figures Yuu's sleepy brain would conjure up from jackets and shirts hanging off closet doors in the night from his childhood.
Pins were sticking out of the mannequin, their colored heads contrasting against the stark white of the, uh, the blow- blouse? Yeah, that - that's what Asahi had called it, anyway. The pins didn't really seem to follow any sort of pattern, but Yuu knew better than to object against the fashion judgement of the literal apparel designer. Turning his attention back to scrolling on his phone, he decided to wait until Asahi finagled with his glasses for the fifteenth time before finally releasing him from his fuzzy-related nightmare.
As it turned out, Yuu only needed to wait seventeen minutes before Asahi reached his finagling quota. Yuu switched his phone off, abandoning it on the couch to sidle up to Asahi. Behind his dusty glasses, big, dark eyes were focused on moving a pin half a centimeter to the left. Long lashes twitched in tandem with the frantic movement of his irises. After watching him scan the blouse up and down multiple times, tugging at certain folds and dips, Yuu huffed an amused breath and stepped between Asahi and the mannequin he was too embarrassed to admit creeped him out… just a bit. Asahi started at Yuu's sudden appearance but offered him a timid smile nonetheless.
"Asahi," Yuu spoke, moving to block Asahi when he reached out to needlessly poke at the fabric. Asahi retracted his hand begrudgingly.
"Yeah?" Asahi answered, leaning around Yuu who was purposely obstructing the view of the mannequin.
"You've been working on that for three hours too long," Yuu said, getting on his tiptoes to be level with Asahi's face. Useless effort. He still wasn't tall enough.
"It's only been two and a half hours…" Asahi twiddled his fingers, antsy to get back to work.
"Exactly," Yuu said bluntly. "Plus, you're polluting the air with fuzz. Soon I'm gonna need to be rushed to the hospital for contracting Byssinosis."
"Byss- wh- what?"
"It's a lung disease that can be caused by inhaling excessive amounts of cotton." Asahi raised a confused eyebrow. "I looked it up after you adjusted your glasses for the thirteenth time." Asahi responded with an unimpressed "ah" and began to reach for his glasses. Yuu stilled Asahi's hands with his own - thin, pale fingers contrasting with broad, tan ones. "Let me," Yuu said softly as he reached up to Asahi's face.
Yuu wrapped his fingers carefully around the frames of Asahi's glasses, making sure none of the hair that wasn't in his half-up-half-down bun wasn't caught in them before tugging them down. Asahi's eyes squinted slightly, adjusting his vision. Yuu glanced down to inspect the dusted lenses before quickly returning his gaze to Asahi's face. He was blinking rapidly, still getting used to the absence of clear vision. Yuu's gaze stilled, the frames squeaking lightly in protest as his grip tightened on them.
He was looking up at Asahi, glasses no longer concealing some of his face. His features were now allowed to fully shine, unabridged. His thick eyebrows sat confidently above his soft, dark eyes. His long nose, claimed by sparse freckles and pores from years of sun exposure, sloped perfectly down to the delicate cupid bow married to his thin lips. Below, the familiar patch of hair on his chin that Yuu came to love still took its scraggly place. It was less patchy compared to what it was in high school. Yuu suddenly flashed back to Karasuno ace Asahi. The Asahi whose face wasn't completely grown-in yet. The Asahi whose jaw was slightly too broad for his slender cheeks, nose a little too wide. The Asahi that stood in front of him now was older, though. His cheekbones finally filled in. His forehead creased lighty due to years of unnecessary anxiety. He was, to say, magnificently, stunningly, almost-illegally, perfect.
Yuu folded Asahi’s glasses and placed them preciously into his shirt pocket, providing easier access to trace his fingertips along the planes of Asahi's familiar face. Asahi faintly twitched at the initial touch but leaned into it when Yuu cupped his cheek. He swiped a thumb below Asahi's eye, smoothing the slightly purple skin below - most likely caused by the lack of a healthy amount of sleep from the night before. He never had been a morning person. Yuu's heart swelled up in pride at that thought. He knew Asahi wasn't a morning person. He knew Asahi liked to read - his favorite genre historical fiction… what a nerd. He knew that the faint scar above Asahi's left eyebrow came from playing tug-of-war a bit too roughly with his dog when he was seven years old. Yuu knew all of this about Asahi, incredibly lucky to have had the chance to learn everything about him. Day by day, year by year, he got to explore and figure out what made Asahi who he was - the one he has loved since he was sixteen.
Yuu was brought back to reality when he felt a hand snake it's way to the back of his neck. It brought his and Asahi's foreheads together, tugging softly at the hair on the nape of Yuu's neck.
"Oh I get it, you used the fabric as an excuse to stare at me," Asahi mumbled, his breath tickling Yuu's lips.
"Initially, no. Afterwards, yes." Yuu smiled and leaned up to steal a kiss from Asahi's lips. "I was just thinking about-"
"You were thinking? Wow, that's usually a major ordeal for you."
"Asahi, please, I thought you loved me!" Yuu laughed, lightly headbutting Asahi in retaliation. "As I was saying, before I was brutally wounded, I was thinking about high school you.”
“Yeah? Thinking about how much of a mess I was then and comparing it to now?”
“Hm, yeah, I guess you’re not that much different now in retrospect.”
“‘Retrospect?’ You’ve been saying a lot of big words lately and using them correctly - it’s concerning me.”
“If you would stop interrupting me with accurate yet hurtful insults, I could get back to telling you how I feel so, so, so lucky to have you,” Yuu finished in a whisper. At that, Asahi finally shut his magnificently, stunningly, almost-illegally, perfect mouth. With a sigh, Yuu continued, “I’m kinda amazed, Asahi. I’m amazed that someone like you would let someone like me into your life. Letting me see all of your little secrets, your loveable mannerisms, your confusing fashion choices that always end up so impressive - even if I do nothing but doubt them at first.” Asahi allows himself to chuckle at the last bit. “It’s so cool that I know what makes you, you. You’ve changed so much since high school, yet not at all. It’s weird, Asahi. Is this what getting older is like? You get all mushy and gross and just so utterly infatuated with the giant you’ve decided to spend the rest of your life with?” Yuu finished and rested his forehead on Asahi’s broad shoulder, cheeks burning.
“Wow,” Asahi huffed a bewildered breath. “Wow,” he repeated, bringing his arms down to clutch Yuu closer to his chest. “All of that, just because my glasses got all fuzzy?”
“When you put it like that-”
“I love you,” Asahi interrupted Yuu again, but this time he couldn't find it in him to be upset. “I love you. So much. Yuu... ” Asahi trailed off, rubbing slow circles onto Yuu’s back. Yuu tapped Asahi’s bicep, letting him know he was still listening. “I could say the exact same about you. The way you just come out and say stuff like that, the way you’re so unashamed of who you are and what you believe in, it’s- I don’t know- I’m crazy about you, Yuu.” Yuu nuzzled closer. “You’ve made me so much more confident. You brought me up every time I doubted myself, and continue to do so. You’re the reason I’m comfortable with sharing all of that about myself,” Asahi finished breathlessly. Yuu looked up from Asahi’s shoulder, flashing a crooked smile. Asahi could say more, but they both knew that he didn’t need to. They both knew how stupid they were for each other. It went without saying. Besides, Asahi showed his love through so many ways that words didn’t need to convey - like the way he, through patience and polite nudging, got Yuu to stop wearing those awful green-tinted sunglasses, preventing him from being a fashion nightmare. “Y’know, this would be so much better if I could actually see you clearly.”
“Oh, yeah, sorry,” Yuu mumbled while reaching to retrieve the glasses he stole. Bringing them close to his face, he blew on them gently to get rid of some of the white fuzzies that still clung to them. After a quick inspection and deeming them acceptable, Yuu slid Asahi’s glasses back to their rightful place: in front of his lover’s big, dark eyes. Asahi smiled once Yuu was clear in his vision again.
“Thank you,” Asahi murmured and leaned down to give Yuu a gentle kiss. And maybe another. And a few more after that. Who’s really keeping track anymore? But if you asked Yuu, he'd confidently tell you it was exactly seven - if you count the one from earlier, of course. “You hungry for dinner or have you ingested too much cotton?” Asahi teased as he released Yuu and padded towards their kitchen.
“Can’t believe you’d joke about that to an actual Byssinosis patient, how cruel,” Yuu giggled. “You’ve definitely changed since high school.”
The rest of the evening was spent the best way Yuu could’ve possibly asked for: making a simple yakisoba dish, eating it lazily on the couch and watching some insufferable reality show, then stumbling to bed, all the while at the side of the man he has loved since he was sixteen - with a minimal amount of sneezing from a totally unidentified source of dust.