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“Why exactly are we dating, Akira?”
Akira chuckled at the question that his boyfriend was asking him. It had become a nightly ritual at this point—they’d settle into the queen-sized bed in their apartment, Akira in a ratty T-shirt and Goro in silk pajamas, and Akechi would look up at the ceiling and ask that question with that irritated voice of his.
Akira shifted in bed to look at Goro’s side profile. Even in the night, the outline of the nose and jaw were clearly defined, his entire face a silhouette of cold ice. He knew the heat that could inhabit it, had tasted some of it for himself, but in moments like these neither he nor Goro was interested in that sort of thing. Akira was just looking forward to a good night’s sleep, and Goro was too busy ruminating over things in his mind.
It was a game between them, borne out of the insecurity that Akira knew he would never quite quell. But he always had fun coming up with the answer, at least. He knew exactly how to annoy his boyfriend—puns, daft romance, even Featherman references were enough to earn Akira that glare he knew and loved.
Today, though, Akira was extra sentimental, and his boyfriend would have to suffer the consequences.
“There’s this English poem, you know,” Akira said as he reached for Goro’s hair and wove it around a finger.
“Please tell me it was written after 1950,” Akechi groaned.
Akira just smiled and recited the first stanza:
In snow thou comest —
Thou shalt go with the resuming ground,
The sweet derision of the crow,
And Glee's advancing sound.
His voice was low, gentle, and soothing, and Akechi scowled in kind. “‘The sweet derision of the crow?’ Is that actually all that I am to you?”
“I wasn’t finished, you know,” Akira said. “Be patient and appreciate my artistry.”
In fear thou comest —
Thou shalt go at such a gait of joy
That man anew embark to live
Upon the depth of thee.
They both lingered in the moment of silence following the end of the poem.
“You came into my life in a terrible way, originally,” Akira said. “But we worked together and made something better. We embarked towards a new life, driven by the strength of the depths of our souls. And I don’t think there’s anything more powerful than that, Goro.”
A shade of emotion showed in his boyfriend’s face before he turned away from him and huffed. “Yes, yes, I love you too.”
Akira snuggled up close to him, wrapping his arms around the others’ waist. “Oh, I know.”
If Akechi was irritated by the close contact, he didn’t say anything.
They fell asleep in that position, amidst dreams of melting snow and the glow of the earth in spring.