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In hindsight, Joe shouldn’t have tried to make their coffee while he was half asleep. And in addition, he shouldn’t have told Cherry he was doing so. The correct way of doing things was to go for a morning run, return energized, pull some espresso shots from the fancy new machine they’d gotten as a wedding gift, and then make cute art with the steamed milk’s foam.
But there had been many missteps which led to Joe pouring their half-assed lattes into two mugs and setting them on the counter. He’d just turned to rinse out the steaming pitcher, when he heard a startled gasp followed by the splattering of liquid onto the ground.
Joe whipped around to find Cherry standing on the other side of the counter, his hair half out of its braid and one of Joe’s t-shirts hanging loosely on his slightly smaller frame. But what grabbed Joe’s attention was the fact that Cherry was holding a hand to his mouth while hot liquid dripped off of the mug in his other hand.
“Kaoru!” He darted over and took the mug from him, setting it back onto the counter. “What happened? Did you burn yourself?”
Cherry looked up at him and nodded, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. “It was hot.” He pulled his hand away and stuck out his tongue. It was already a darker shade of pink at the tip.
Joe cursed. He should have used Cherry’s regular mug, but it was still in the dishwasher. So there was no way to differentiate their drinks. Cherry’s, which Joe heated to a much cooler temperature, and Joe’s, which he scalded until the machine hissed at him to stop.
“I think you got mine,” Joe said, rubbing Cherry’s shoulder.
“You think?” he snapped at him, his glasses sliding down the bridge of his nose. He stuck his tongue out further and peered down at it, his brow furrowing. Joe would have told him he looked cute if he wasn’t certain Cherry would kill him for saying so. “Ugh,” Cherry groaned. “Why do you like your coffee heated on the surface of the sun?”
Realizing he was probably fine, Joe smiled. “I’m hot-blooded, what can I say?”
Cherry narrowed his eyes at him. “Hot-blooded,” he scoffed.
“If you want, yours is over here,” Joe said, reaching for the other mug. “Nice and tepid for your cat tongue.” He handed it to Cherry, who snatched it from his hands.
“I don’t have a cat tongue,” he replied, sticking out said appendage. He took a cautious test sip and then smiled before downing the rest. “Another one, please.” He handed the empty mug back.
“You got it, kitten.” Joe grinned, dodging Cherry’s fist. While the milk steamed, Joe walked back over. “Is your tongue okay?”
Cherry sighed, poking the tip of it with his finger. “I’ll live,” he answered.
“Aww,” Joe cooed. “So, you don’t need me to kiss it better?” He was going to get hit for that one. The caffeine hadn’t kicked in yet and Cherry was already grouchy in the morning when he wasn’t in wounded animal mode.
Surprisingly, however, Cherry just closed his eyes and tilted his head up. “Fine.”
Joe’s brows rose to his hairline. But he wasn’t about to look a gift cat in the mouth. Or however that saying went. He had much better plans for it, anyway. “Sorry you picked the wrong mug,” Joe whispered and just as Cherry was about to yell at him, Joe pressed their lips together, darting his tongue into Cherry’s mouth and licking soothing laps against the burn.
When they pulled apart, Cherry’s glasses were askew and his cheeks were flushed. “Kojiro…”
“Does your tongue feel better, Kaoru?” he asked sweetly. The espresso machine had long finished steaming and the shots it had dropped definitely needed to be tossed and repoured, but it had been worth it.
“It feels a bit better,” Cherry replied before taking a seat on one of the stools by the counter. “Oh, and there’s a mess on the floor.” He glanced down at the spilled coffee.
Joe shook his head with a chuckle. “I’ll get it, kitten.”
“Don’t call me that,” Cherry hissed. Sure, he said that, but his cheeks and ears were flushed. Cute.
Ah, the morning hadn’t gotten off to a good start, but things seemed to be taking a turn for the better.
“You got it, gattino .”
Yeah, he got hit for that one.