Work Text:
What I love about you
It was Koushiro's birthday and Taichi prepared dinner for the two of them. He put a picnic towel on the floor of the apartment's balcony and arranged six fluffy pillows. In the center of the towel, Taichi placed a big plate of yakisoba and two pairs of chopsticks. Was he hoping that he and Koushiro would eventually try to eat the same string of noddle and that would lead to a kiss? Yes, of course he was.
It was already night, but there weren't many stars visible, due to the city lights. The yakisoba was getting cold. Koushiro was taking too long to arrive from work. Taichi was about to call him when his boyfriend suddenly opened the door and entered the apartment.
Koushiro had a distant look on his face, as if he was deeply in thought about something. However, there was no spark of excitement in his eyes, which clued Taichi about the existence of a problem.
“Did something happen?” Taichi asked him, greeting his boyfriend with a kiss on the cheek.
“Oh!” Koushiro exclaimed. “Sorry, I was spacing out! My coworkers surprised me with a birthday cake and I couldn't come earlier! They also ate all the cake, sorry I couldn't bring you some...”
“Don't worry about that, I bought strawberry cake for us! It's in the fridge!” Taichi told him, showing a reassuring smile. “How about you take a quick shower and then we have your birthday dinner looking at the stars?”
“Oh... okay...” Koushiro muttered, taking a peek at the balcony. Then, he forced a smile and asked: “Did you make your famous yakisoba? I bet it's delicious!”
That fake smile couldn't fool Taichi.
“Koushiro, what's upsetting you? Please, tell me what's wrong.”
His boyfriend paled and looked down.
“Nothing bad happened, it's just... it's actually super silly...” Koushiro forced a laugh. “My coworkers surprised me with the cake, it was very sweet of them... and they praised me... they all said how they admired my intelligence... all the praises consisted in different ways of saying that...”
“You are very intelligent, Koushiro!” Taichi told him. “Why would you be upset about other people acknowledging that?”
Koushiro frowned.
“Yes, I suppose I'm intelligent...” he murmured, “and that's all I am...”
Taichi was surprised at the gloominess in the other's voice. Koushiro suddenly forced a laugh again.
“As I said, it's such a silly thing! I'm just being silly, don't mind me!” Koushiro dismissed. “I'll go take a shower now, sorry for acting weirdly!”
Koushiro hurried to the bathroom without giving Taichi the chance to say anything else. Nevertheless, Taichi wouldn't let that go.
After his shower, Koushiro went to the balcony. Taichi asked him to sit by his side. After Koushiro did it, Taichi held both his hands and looked deeply into his eyes.
“After what you said, I've been thinking about what I love about you,” Taichi said.
“I didn't want to make you worry, sorry...” Koushiro sounded ashamed.
“Hey, I appreciate that you tell me when you're upset, don't apologize for it,” Taichi told him. “Anyway, I've been thinking about what I love about you and I realized that... as it turns out, your intelligence isn't even among the top ten things.”
Koushiro blushed at that statement. Taichi continued:
“Anyone can be intelligent, that's not what makes someone good. Your intelligence is just a quality that you have, but it's not even the most important one. Koushiro, you're an extremely kind and caring person, do you know that? You've always used your intelligence to help other people. You always work so hard for the sake of others and yet you feel guilty when you can't solve the problem at hand. But you don't let yourself get knocked down. Even when you fail, you quickly get back at your feet, and you don't stop until you've done everything in your power. You don't give up, Koushiro, no matter how badly things get. I don't know anyone nearly as strong as you are.”
“Taichi-san...” Koushiro murmured. His face was completely red.
“And you're so patient, Koushiro!” Taichi continued. “Even though I don't always understand what you're talking about, you keep trying to explain things for me! And you're so gentle when you explain things, you never made me feel dumb for not understanding immediately. Also, I love how passionate you are when you're interested in something or when you find out something new! Your excitement is contagious! It's impossible not to be happy around you when you're talking about stuff that fascinates you! Well, to be honest, it's impossible for me not to be happy when I'm around you! Your very presence fills me with joy!”
Koushiro suddenly kissed Taichi at the lips and Taichi gladly kissed him back. They stayed like that for a couple of minutes.
“Sorry for interrupting you,” Koushiro said. “But if you kept telling me such wonderful compliments, there was a risk I'd have died of happiness...”
“It's alright, I happen to also love it when you're spontaneous!” Taichi let him know.
They both laughed. Taichi admired his boyfriend's beautiful smiling face with great pleasure.
“Say, Taichi-san...” Koushiro said, pointing at the yakisoba. “Were you planning to pull a 'the lady and the tramp' situation tonight?”
Taichi smirked and said:
“I love how well you know me.”