Work Text:
It was still hot when Haiji got off his bike once he reached the front garden of Aotake. The sky of a late summer evening hung over the worn building, a sheen of faint stars dusted the dark blue with interstellar freckles and the moon was about to rise, a smooth glob in the dark, guiding people home.
Haiji grabbed his bike by the handles to push it to the frontside of the building, and as he lowered his gaze from the night sky to his former home, he smiled. Warm light shone through the front door and the small first floor window, illuminating patches of darkness. It brought a smile to Haiji’s lips and his chest filled with searing anticipation. Since no one but Kakeru and him would be in Aotake tonight, Haiji had been looking forward to this day the whole week.
The following day was Haiji’s day off, and thus – for a change – he had agreed to stay over at Aotake instead of his own tiny flat. The entire evening, the whole night and the next morning would be theirs, they would have a drink, have a late-night snack, spend the night as they desired without having to stifle their voices, and cook breakfast together in the morning without any nosy student around to notice fresh marks on their skin.
His heart was thrumming in his chest as he thought of seeing Kakeru the next minute after they hadn’t seen each other for the entire week. Bearing the expectation of a welcoming kiss and gentle hug, Haiji grinned even wider while he locked his bike, grabbed his bag and approached the front door.
Shoving open the old wood, Haiji stepped inside and pulled the door close behind him.
"I’m back!" He announced himself, smiling at the old habit.
He shuffled out of his shoes and stepped barefoot on the wooden slats. It was noticeably cooler inside, but not as much. For years Haiji had listened to Yuki and Niko-chan-senpai complain that Aotake lacked air-conditioner, but neither of them had dared to approach Tazaki with the matter. Haiji mused with a grin that the two of them would rather melt from the heat than try to withstand the iron will and firm strength their landlord possessed.
The lack of response made Haiji frown, but perhaps Kakeru was busy and couldn’t welcome him as Haiji’s wishful thinking had idealised in his mind. Instead of waiting, Haiji walked to the kitchen and raised the curtains with a hand to look inside. Surprised, he stopped in the door frame, his smile uwavering.
"Haiji-san!"
Kakeru was the first to react. He half hovered over his seat, as if he had wanted to get up, and looked at Haiji with a warm smile.
"I told you I heard something," Kakeru added, giving Joji and Jota, who were sitting on the other side of the table, a challenging grin.
"Yeah, whatever," Jota said disinterestedly, looking at Haiji instead.
"Creepy hearing," his brother added, just as excited as Jota when he saw Haiji standing in the kitchen.
"What are you doing here?" asked Haiji once the initial surprise had worn off. "Weren’t you going to karaoke?"
"Our friend got sick and Hana-chan had to help her father at short notice," Jota explained with a deep sigh.
"Haiji-san, aren’t you happy we’re here as well?" Joji pouted playfully.
Haiji chuckled. "In a way," he mumbled, hoping to evade the topic. Not that he minded spending time with the twins, but his hopes for the night with Kakeru had apparently been higher than he had thought.
"Are you upset that you don’t have Kakeru all to yourself tonight?" Joji quipped.
"We’re probably interrupting their date night or whatever," his brother added.
Joji looked back and forth between Haiji and Kakeru with an unusually serious expression. "Please let us sleep at night," he said sternly, but cackled a moment later.
"I don’t want to wake up at two in the morning due to your lovey-dovey-lovebird-sounds."
"They’ll be at it the entire night," Joji added, waggling his eyebrows meaningfully while boxing his brother in the side.
"N–n–nobody said it would be all night!" Kakeru tried to put a stop to the teasing, stuttered and pressed the back of his hand to a red cheek.
"Oh?" Haiji now asked, grinning.
"At least… not the entire night," Kakeru added sheepishly, glancing at Haiji from below.
"Is that a promise?" Haiji continued with a smirk.
His boyfriend only shrugged, but his smile was bashful and full of things to discover late in the night.
"Well, either way," Haiji said with a fresh breath, stepping inside and dropping his bag on the floor next to the door, "I’m staying the night."
"Huh, just like that?" Joji asked in confusion.
"We actually planned this," Haiji explained and approached the table.
Kakeru nodded to emphasise his words and the gesture made the twins exchange a look.
"I really don’t think we should stay here for too long," Jota contemplated and sounded thoughtful.
"We’re lucky our room is upstairs."
"We should’ve gone to karaoke anyway."
"Who knows what they’ll do when we’re not around. Kakeru," Joji said firmly, "you have the first room downstairs, it’s close to the kitchen, please remember that."
Kakeru blinked, perplexed, and stared at the two blond men. "Oi, nothing’s gonna happen!"
The twins gave him an unimpressed look.
"Awww, Kakeru, really?" Haiji tried his best to pout and not grin as he nudged his boyfriend’s shoulder repeatedly.
"Nothing they need to know at least," Kakeru said, still flustered but much more confident now.
"Fair enough." Haiji placed his hand on Kakeru’s shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze. "So, what were you doing here anyway? Having a late dinner?"
"We were actually going to play something!"
"Play?" Haiji repeated, surprised at the rather unusual idea.
"Kakeru wants to show us some fun," Jota explained, but he raised his eyebrows and looked as if he couldn’t believe his own words.
" Fun ," Joji repeated and sighed deeply. Haiji could literally see the quotation marks in his voice.
"U–huh." Haiji rubbed Kakeru’s shoulder a bit and smiled when he noticed the pink tinge that hadn’t left the other’s ears. "So, games, huh?" he added, pausing dramatically before continuing, "Ohhh, what did I do to you?" he mused with a singsong voice.
Kakeru, Joji and Jota looked at him in surprise.
"The youth of today," Haiji continued, smiling melancholy. "You sit here, together in the kitchen, instead of alone in your rooms surfing creepy websites."
He enjoyed watching his friends’ reactions. The twins’ eyes grew wide in genuine shock and Kakeru was surprisingly blushing and evading Haiji’s gaze.
"I–if you’re hinting on the browser history, I swear I didn’t use our laptop even once before those websites popped up!" Joji leaned back in his seat and stared furiously at Haiji.
"Excuse me, are you saying that it was me who opened those?" Jota looked at his brother, no less flabbergasted.
"Who else would it be? It’s our laptop, after all. No one uses it but us."
"We should have asked our parents for a second one."
"Yeah," Joji agreed strongly. "Then I wouldn’t be under suspicion of surfing those kinds of… those creepy websites." Big innocent eyes looked at Haiji as if to verify he had said that right, which was even more amusing.
"Joji," Kakeru sighed, "I’ve already explained to you that those were ads. And I don’t think you want to look at them closely anyway, you’re straight to begin with."
Haiji snickered at the twins’ reaction. The two looked at Kakeru with a newfound bewilderment, eyes like saucers and mouth agape.
"Th–those were…," Jota stuttered and Joji continued, "Ga–ga–ga–…"
"Okay!" Haiji raised his voice and clapped his hands. "What kind of game are we playing?"
Kakeru laughed at his action to shake the twins out of their rigour, and Haiji beamed at him as he settled into the chair right next to his boyfriend.
"We were just trying to think of something," Kakeru explained, his calm voice seemed to ease the twins a bit.
"We can’t decide," Jota agreed.
"Because you refuse everything I suggest," Kakeru said, slightly irritated.
"That’s because your games are boring, Kakeru. Who plays cards in their fourth year of university?"
Kakeru frowned and pushed his jaw forward, giving his pout a very cute addition that Haiji found it difficult to look away and think about Jota’s words instead.
"True, we never played cards when I lived here either. I just heard some students talking about a card game, but that included drinking, so I guess the main source of fun was obviously not the card game itself."
"Only kids play cards," Joji huffed.
"And drunk students," his brother added.
"Students who want to get drunk," Haiji corrected.
"Then come up with something better, don’t just complain. And not a game where we end up getting drunk! I want to have my full conscious when I–" Kakeru stopped in mid-sentence, staring into space. But when he cleared his voice, he threw Haiji a very quick glance out of the corner of his eye.
"When you… what, Kakeru?" asked Haiji, resting his chin on his palm while putting his elbow on the table.
"No–nothing!"
Haiji chuckled and ran his fingers down Kakeru’s upper arm, thumbing the warm skin above the elbow where the t-shirt ended, savouring the soft hue that coloured Kakeru’s ears.
A low hum from Joji brought Haiji’s attention back to the other two men in the room. The brothers had their arms crossed, brows knitted in thoughtful furrows, and wore concentrated expressions, as if they were stuck with an exam question. For about a minute neither of them said anything, and Haiji found it amusing to watch the twins’ brains struggle.
"Haiji-san," Joji finally whined. "You say something. You’re the best image of a Japanese man we know."
"How does that help?" asked Haiji, laughing, but he noticed the small nod his boyfriend made at the remark.
"You may know some old man games or something," Jota explained with a one-sided shrug.
"How old do you think I am?"
"Come onnnn~, say something."
Haiji laughed and did his friend the favour, giving it some thought.
"How about shogi?"
"May I rephrase," Joji said.
"We’re not your age yet, Haiji-san, please suggest something where we don’t have to think."
Kakeru laughed out loud. "Oh, why didn’t you say so in the first place?" he asked canting, which earned him a glare from the twins. "Although, we don’t even have a shogi board," he added thoughtfully, giving Haiji an apologetic look.
"Alright," Haiji sighed. "I’ll keep thinking."
They fell silent. Haiji went through the many games he knew as he noticed the twins looking from him to Kakeru and back. When Kakeru got up, Haiji followed his fluid movements while he remembered the days he had spent with his grandfather and the old wooden box of youthful magic.
"Do you want to drink something?" Kakeru’s clear voice made him smile, but before Haiji could answer, the twins were faster.
"Beer!"
Kakeru frowned. "I asked Haiji-san."
"What, you won’t give us a beer?" Jota pouted.
"You’re sitting right in front of the fridge!"
Jota glanced behind himself and hesitated a second before saying, "It’s too exhausting to turn around."
Kakeru stared at his friend, but instead of a remark about them being active athletes, he shook his head and laughed.
"Haiji-san?" he then asked quietly, searching for brown eyes to meet his own.
"Hm? Oh, uh, do you have tea?"
"Sure!"
"Tea!?" Joji exclaimed. "It’s summer, Haiji-san, we can’t have tea."
"I thought Kakeru only asked me?"
All three of them turned to look at Kakeru, who started to cackle as he busied himself with his hands on the counter preparing the pot.
"A true Japanese man," Jota sighed, flashed Haiji a grin and half-turned around to reach the handle of the fridge from a sitting position.
"Jota, please don’t break your neck," Kakeru's muffled voice warned him without turning around, his eyes still fixed on the pot.
"Yeah, Jota," Joji said. "We still need you for next year’s Hakone. It’ll be our last, so make an effort and move."
He earned a nasty look from his brother in return. "You just don’t want to get up yourself."
"You were the first to move."
"Only because you were too lazy to move first."
"Am not!"
"You too!"
"Guys please, can’t you just get your drink and sit at the table like normal fourth year students would?" Kakeru raised an eyebrow as he turned to look at them.
Jota sighed exasperated and got up to open the fridge. He took two cans of beer and closed the door, but hesitated to sit back immediately. Standing right behind his brother, Haiji could see what Jota was up to but didn’t interfere.
Joji’s high-pitched shriek echoed off the kitchen walls and he whirled around to stare at the obviously ice-cold can Jota had pressed against his neck.
Haiji cackled and Kakeru turned around, startled by the sudden ruckus. Seeing that no harm had been done, he shrugged and turned back to the kettle to pour the steaming water over the tea leaves. He then retrieved two cups from the cupboard and brought everything to the table, where he successfully stopped the twins from murdering each other.
"Geez," Kakeru muttered once he was able to sit down next to Haiji again.
"Sorry, Kakeru," the twins said in unison, rubbing the respective spots on their heads where bumps were beginning to grow.
"So, uh, Haiji-san," Jota said, quieter than usual, giving Haiji a subdued look. "Any ideas?"
The innocent question eased the tense atmosphere and everybody turned to look at Haiji.
"Hmm," Haiji hummed, looking up at the ceiling, "Sudoku?"
The twins' discontented frown was answer enough.
"That’s too hard for them, Haiji-san," Kakeru said, grinning mischievously.
Before the twins had the chance to react to the teasing, Haiji suggested the next idea, "Kendama?"
"We don’t have one of those here," Kakeru said.
"Hmmm… Hopscotch?"
"No moving around in the heat, Haiji-san," Joji said.
"Do we have any dice?"
"No."
"Kagome?"
"I said no moving, Haiji-san."
"Although," Joji added, snickering, "we already have an ogre here."
Haiji raised an eyebrow. "What was that?"
The tone of his voice alone sufficiently silenced the twins.
"Okay," Haiji folded his hands together. "No moving, no hard thinking, no equipment," he summarised and all of the others nodded.
"Yep!" Joji agreed, grinning widely.
"Here, Haiji-san." Kakeru pushed a cup of tea toward him, which Haiji gladly accepted.
"Oh, thanks." He turned the cup between his fingers. "I guess we only have one solution left," he said then.
"Yeah?"
The excited voices of the twins made him chuckle, and Kakeru’s curious eyes resting on him created a pleasant tingling sensation run under his skin.
"Shiritori!"
The twins groaned in unison and Kakeru chuckled. "It’s actually not that bad," he said then.
"It’s for children," Joji replied, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, that’s why I thought of it," Haiji mused. "Since I’m so much older than you and you didn't want the game to be too hard."
Jota scowled, but after a few seconds he gave in and heaved a sigh. "I’m in. Joji?"
"No one can say no to Haiji-san’s charm."
"Huh?" Haiji looked in confusion from the twins to his boyfriend, who shrugged.
"No denying that," Kakeru mumbled, grinning bashfully, and before Haiji could ask anything else, he continued in the round, "Okay, who starts?"
"Oi, first the rules!"
"What rules?" Kakeru looked at Joji. "Can’t we just say any word?"
"No way!" Jota crossed his arms in front of his chest. "We always got into fights at home over this game. So, rules."
His brother nodded vehemently.
"Alright," Haiji agreed. "Nouns are okay, what else?"
"Anything!" Joji exclaimed with bright eyes, earning him a scowl from his older brother.
"We just said we wanted rules."
"That would make it too easy, Joji, even for you," Kakeru added, laughing at the face Joji made.
"Mean," he grumbled to himself.
"Can’t we just stick to the basics?" suggested Haiji. "Only nouns, that is. If you end a word with n, you lose."
Jota sighed. "Okay, that’s fine for the start."
Joji and Kakeru nodded in agreement and Haiji smiled, relieved.
"So, who’s going to start?"
"The youngest?" Jota said.
Everybody turned to face Joji, who grinned widely.
"Alright! Uhm… Uhhhh…" The blond stared at the ceiling, thinking of a word to start their game with. He was surely taking his time, making thinking noises as his eyes darted back and forth, inspecting the dirty spots on the wooden slats that covered every wall of the well-used kitchen.
When another minute passed, Haiji raised an eyebrow and threw Jota a side glance – wondering if that was normal – but surprisingly, Jota too seemed to be lost in thoughts.
"Oh!" Joji finally exclaimed and Haiji wasn’t the only one to let out a sigh of relief. "Now I have one! Homework."
Kakeru frowned. "Joji, did you forget it again?"
"Did not!" Joji stuck his tongue out at him. "Now, Haiji-san, it’s your turn!"
Haiji nodded. "Homework, huh." He glanced to the left and smiled tenderly as he watched his boyfriend. "Kakeru."
"Yes?"
The twins groaned and Kakeru realised too late that his name was supposed to be the next word.
"We should have seen this coming," Jota said and his brother nodded.
Kakeru furrowed his brows, then said, "Rules."
There was silence for a few seconds, then Jota said, "Summer!"
"Ramune," Joji followed, grinning.
"Oh, do we we have any left?" Jota’s eyes widened with excitement.
"Nope!" Joji grinned.
"You owe me, the last bottle was mine."
"Was not."
"Was too!"
"Next!" Haiji breached the tiff and snickered when the twins blinked at him in confusion.
"Huh?"
"What?"
"My word, it’s Next," Haiji explained.
"Ohhh."
Kakeru laughed, then he said, "Track field," and made Haiji laugh quietly.
"Dumbass," Jota said, glaring at his brother.
"Selfish."
"Horrible !"
"Enemy!"
Haiji sighed and gave the two brothers a stern look. "Calm down guys, you didn’t follow the rules anymore," he said, raising one finger. "Besides, it’s only one soda."
"But it was the last one!" Joji and Jota shouted at the same time.
Haiji rested his chin on his palm and looked at Kakeru, who took over. "We can go to the konbini later and get new ones."
This made the twins’ eyes sparkle and muffled the argument. Haiji threw his boyfriend a grateful smile.
"So, where were we?"
"It was… y, somehow."
"Alright, then, uhm… Yoghurt!" Haiji said.
"Training," Kakeru followed calmly.
"Can’t you think of anything else than running for once?" Jota asked with a pleading expression.
Kakeru just raised an eyebrow.
"Ugh, fine. G, huh…"
Jota frowned and lost himself in thoughts about possible words. Haiji waited, but when no immediate response followed, he let his mind wander a little. Knowing that the older brother was lost in the search for a word and that Joji was staring at his twin with an expression of unusual fascination, Haiji threw a glance at his boyfriend.
Kakeru too was studying Jota, his side profile relaxed and calm, his jaw as sharp as ever and the tip of his nose as round as that of his ear. The gentle hue of pink that had crept across his skin had settled again, giving way to a look of concentration.
Slowly, Haiji reached out until his fingertips nudged Kakeru’s leg under the table. Kakeru jerked and stared down, but when he noticed it was Haiji, he relaxed again and his startled expression softened.
Kakeru was wearing only a t-shirt and shorts to cover his legs; its fabric had slipped up when he had settled on the chair. Haiji placed his palm on the spot above Kakeru’s knee and squeezed the taut muscle and firm flesh before smoothing the warm skin and slowly running his hand up and down, following the outer muscles. He felt Kakeru relaxing under his touch and when he glanced down to see his comparatively pale hand on tanned skin, he smiled to himself and a funny feeling rose in his chest.
He wasn’t sure what exactly they would’ve done if the twins had gone to karaoke today, but he knew that touching Kakeru in some way would have been very high on his list.
Haiji let his fingers glide down the thigh toward Kakeru’s knee, where he swiped over the protruding bone before sliding his palm back. His thenar pushed aside the yielding soft fabric and suddenly there was much more skin to touch. Kakeru’s muscles tensed a little as Haiji’s fingers grazed the inside of his thighs, tenderly feeling the flesh.
"Girls!" Jota suddenly exclaimed, startling both Kakeru and Haiji.
But the twins were oblivious.
"Snow," Joji said the next word.
"W… w…," Haiji mumbled as he moved his hand more slowly than before over the warm skin. Concentrating more on thinking than moving his hand, he didn't pay much attention as he drew his arm back a little and stroked what didn't feel at all like taut leg muscles. "Workout," he finally said.
A pause followed.
"Kakeru, it’s your turn!" Jota said, frowning in confusion.
"Huh? Oh, right."
Haiji looked at his boyfriend, slightly worried, and noticed that Kakeru tore his eyes away from where he had been staring at his own lap, his cheeks coloured a beautiful red. Now he was frantically searching the kitchen, as if the word he was looking for could be found somewhere behind the sink.
"Tea… pot! Teapot."
Jota hummed. "Tea," he continued.
"Is that allowed?" asked Joji. "Kakeru just said teapot." He looked at Haiji with a puzzled expression.
Fearing another fight, Haiji shrugged and tried to say as calmly as possible, "It’s a new noun. And a is simple."
"True." Joji nodded and hummed as he thought of the next word.
Distracted by the small conversation, Kakeru shifted on his set and pushed his legs towards Haiji. Too late, Kakeru noticed that this meant giving Haiji more access, and although Haiji wouldn’t dare go any further than touching like this, it was still endearing to see his boyfriend blush and press a hand to his mouth so stifle whatever sound that might have come from his throat.
"Aeroplane!" exclaimed Joji finally, giving Haiji the e.
"Hmm… edamame."
"E–ema," Kakeru stuttered while trying to evade Haiji’s gentle gaze.
The twins, obviously oblivious of what was going on, continued cluelessly.
"Manager."
"Rakugo!"
"Speaking of old-fashioned, huh?" said Haiji, snickering.
Joji shrugged. "It’s still famous, in a way. I guess."
"Mhm." Haiji hummed. "Gouda ," he then said.
"A–a–anko."
Jota gave Kakeru a suspicious glance, but didn’t ask. "Konomono," he continued.
"How come we’re talking about food now?" Joji asked, puzzled. His brother gave him a look and Joji sighed, throwing his arms in the air.
Haiji chuckled at the exchange and let some strength flow into his arm to gently knead Kakeru’s thigh. Surprisingly, it resulted in a glare by his boyfriend, which Haiji returned with a sheepish smile.
"Nori," Joji said now.
"Ringo," Haiji added, giggling, then glanced at Kakeru. His boyfriend was seemingly having difficulties withstanding the urge to get up and move away from Haiji’s ministrations, or to concentrate at all. Dark eyes focused on a spot in his teacup and when he noticed the silence, Kakeru looked up in confusion.
"Huh?"
Haiji smiled and slowly rubbed his bare leg. "I said ringo," he explained.
"We–we have some."
The twins cackled loudly.
"I meant my last word, Kakeru. You have to say the next," Haiji explained patiently, watching the colour on his boyfriend’s cheeks darken.
"Oh," Kakeru said, his eyes widening even more now, and if he hadn't been so focused on Haiji's hand on his leg, he would have looked even more embarrassed. He stared at Haiji in disbelief, but then he gazed on the table and Haiji could see that he was trying to think of the next word. His eyes studied the worn kitchen table as if the national dictionary had been carved into the wood, and Haiji did his boyfriend the favour of not moving his fingers for the time being.
"Go… go…," Kakeru mumbled thoughtfully, then he raised his head and his eyes began to shine. "Go!"
Jota blinked, dumbfounded. "That’s too easy!"
Kakeru shrugged, seemingly pleased with his idea. "It counts."
The twin grumbled a little before saying, "Okonomiyaki!"
"Food again?" asked Haiji, amused.
Jota grinned widely at him before turning his head and looking at his brother expectantly.
"Ki… ki…," Joji muttered, much like Kakeru earlier, but he found a new word faster and exclaimed, "Kizuna!"
Haiji was surprised that Joji had picked that word and smiled. While he thought about the next word, he deemed it safe enough to continue caressing his boyfriend’s leg, and the moment he spoke "Aloha," he gave the warm flesh of Kakeru’s inner thigh a firm squeeze.
"Ha–Haiji–san!" Kakeru shouted, jolting in his chair and staring bewildered at Haiji, who returned the look equally startled.
The two looked at each other, confused and wide-eyed, and it took a few seconds for Haiji to realise what Kakeru had just done.
"W–what?" Kakeru stuttered, looking in confusion at the twins, who were stunned. His hand disappeared below the table surface to catch Haiji’s wrist before deft fingers could move any further than they already had.
"Oh, come on, Kakeru," Jota finally groaned. "You lost."
"Huh, what? How?"
"You said Haiji-san, Kakeru, you lost."
Kakeru looked from one twin to the other, baffled, then he glared at Haiji with a lot more force than necessary, but Haiji smirked in satisfaction.
"I bet you were flirting all this time," Joji added and leaned back with a deep sigh spilling from between his lips.
"But we were sitting here, playing," Haiji said calmly, feigning innocence.
"Yeah, sure." Jota squinted his eyes and looked suspiciously back and forth between the two. Kakeru squirmed on his chair, but Haiji returned the look with a smile. His hand was still caught by Kakeru’s fingers that were warmed by the cup of tea he had touched before.
Joji, oblivious to their conversation, looked excited from his brother to the other side. "One more round?"
"Of course, I’m in!" Haiji grinned. "Now I’ve piqued your interest, huh?"
"It’s fun when Kakeru is the one who looses."
"What?"
"You’re right, you’re always one step ahead of us."
"Literally," Joji added.
"No fair," Jota concluded with an honest nod.
Stunned, Kakeru looked from one to the other, but before he had a chance to respond, Haiji’s fingers moved again, tracing the muscle from knee to inner thigh.
"I–I’ll be right back."
And with that, Kakeru got up – Haiji’s hand dropped down – and shoved his chair back to turn around so that he was facing the wall instead of the table as he walked towards the door. Haiji observed his boyfriend exiting with a tinge of worry in his chest that left a tight feeling. His hand suddenly felt cold, but more than concern he felt rather curious as to why Kakeru had decided to leave for a moment.
"Who’s going to start?"
"You?" Joji offered.
"Okay! Uhm… Hajime."
Haiji looked back to the twins, raising an eyebrow.
"Really? Hajime?" asked Joji incredulously, but his brother only shrugged.
"Alright," Joji sighed. "Megane."
Haiji chuckled and tapped the glasses that sat on the back of his nose. "Megane, huh?"
Joji grinned bashfully.
"Hmmm," Haiji hummed, thinking about the next word "Neko."
"Konomono," Jota continued instead of Kakeru.
"Oi," his brother complained. "You used that already before."
"It’s a new game," Jota replied with a casual shrug.
"You can’t just do that." Joji stared at Haiji. "Haiji-san!"
Surprised that he now had the task of settling the twins’ dispute, Haiji said, "Uh… Guess it’s fine. Not like we have a bet going on or so."
Jota grinned in satisfaction at his brother, who harrumphed in response.
"Fine," Joji conceded defeat. "Okura."
"Amazake."
"Ebi," Jota continued.
"Bistro."
"Romance," Haiji mused.
Jota’s brows furrowed as he thought of a word when Kakeru came back in. He pushed aside the curtain and approached the table with a neutral expression, though his face was still a little flushed. He sat down again and instead of a warm greeting, he threw Haiji another glare. Then his hands reached for his cup and he sipped some tea. Haiji bit his lip to keep from asking if everything was alright, a nervous feeling creeping under his skin and his thoughts spinning in circles. But when Kakeru put down the cup again, a tentative hand found Haiji’s arm resting in his lap. The touch was only brief before Kakeru dropped his hand again, but enough to reassure Haiji and flash his boyfriend a warm smile.
"Where are we?" asked Kakeru then.
"I said romance," Haiji filled in.
Dark eyes stared at him in confusion. "Uh…"
"That was my word," Haiji added, laughing quietly.
"Oh, I see." A few seconds, then, "Ebisu."
"Sumo!" Jota said.
"Moon! Oh wait, no!" Joji’s eyes widened in shock, but then he laughed together with the rest. Kakeru giggled and held his stomach, and Jota wiped tears from his eyes while Joji grinned with a dumbfounded expression.
"Oh, Kakeru, can you pour me another cup?" Haiji pushed his empty cup over.
"Of course."
Kakeru’s arm muscles flexed as he lifted the heavy stone pot. When he handed the steaming cup back, a soft smile danced around his lips, barely visible, but along with the gentle glance Kakeru threw him, Haiji knew Kakeru didn’t resent him. He smiled back and drank some tea.
"Alright, Haiji-san, now it’s your turn," Joji announced.
Haiji hummed, put the cup down and thought of a word.
"Hakone," he decided, and when he turned his head to look at his boyfriend, Kakeru said, "Ekiden."
The two men stared at each other, too stunned to utter any word, and blinked, perplexed. Then they began to laugh, loud and freely. Haiji reached out to ruffle Kakeru’s hair, and Kakeru grinned widely. The twins roared and chuckled until their voices were hoarse.
"I taught you all the good things, right?" Haiji said, giggling.
"The best," Kakeru returned, smiling bashfully.
Kakeru started the next round, and after Jota lost, they played another round, and another. They did a quick trip to the nearby konbini to get the promised ramune, and once they returned to Aotake, they continued playing. Together, they laughed at the words they chose and giggled when someone lost shortly after starting.
It was getting late, and when the twins said their goodbyes for the night, it was just Kakeru and Haiji standing at the kitchen counter, washing the teapot, cups, and plates they had used for senbei crackers that Joji had fetched from a cupboard.
A comfortable silence hung over the two men as they stood side by side – Kakeru washing, Haiji drying – enjoying the calm of the late night, disturbed only occasionally by a dull thump from upstairs. Haiji glanced up at the ceiling, wondering what the twins were up to, but didn’t mind much since they were still on semester break and Haiji had already taken so much of their time that he didn’t mind giving the two of them their deserved freedom.
"It was a nice evening," Haiji finally spoke his thoughts aloud, giving his boyfriend a sideways glance.
"Mhm," Kakeru hummed in agreement. "I didn’t know the twins would enjoy Shiritori that much, though."
"Neither did I." Haiji chuckled. "They always tend to surprise me."
"You’re right."
For the next minute or so they continued their work quietly. Haiji stacked the cups and pushed them further up the counter to make sure they were safe.
"I liked this evening," Kakeru then said quietly. "But…"
Haiji looked at him curiously as Kakeru handed him the next wet plate. "Hm?"
Dark blue eyes threw him a quick glance before focusing on his hands in the suds.
"Are you… disappointed that we spent it together?"
Haiji’s eyes widened a little. "Of course not!"
"Together with Jota and Joji, I mean."
"I don’t mind, Kakeru." Haiji smiled softly.
"But… It wasn’t just the two of us. Wouldn’t you have liked that more?"
Haiji frowned thoughtfully, turning the plate in his hands left and right while humming.
"It would have been nice if it had just been the two of us today," he agreed. "But who said today was the only chance to spend the evening together as we had planned? Instead, it gave us the chance to spend some time with the twins as well. Besides," he added and sudden excitement filled his chest, "we still have the whole night."
Kakeru chuckled. "Yes. I’m glad you can spend the night here."
"Days off are sacred for adults, you know?" Haiji smirked.
"I can understand."
They slowly finished the few dishes. When Haiji picked up the heavy teapot to dry it, he studied his boyfriend from the side.
"You… took care of it?" He asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.
"Huh?" Kakeru looked at him with an open expression. "What do you mean?"
"When you were gone earlier. I mean," he said without continuing that sentence and instead glanced meaningfully at Kakeru’s crotch.
A deep blush crept over his boyfriend’s face and Haiji found that image endearing.
"I… I didn’t," Kakeru stumbled.
"Oh?"
"I waited… for it to calm down." Kakeru stared intently at his hands, which kept groping for more dishes in the water, even though there was nothing left to rinse.
Surprised by his answer, Haiji blinked wide-eyed, then snickered. "Guess you’re too good for this world, Kakeru. So innocent and pure," he mused.
Kakeru raised an eyebrow and his lips twitched into a grin. "Unlike you?"
"Hm, who knows." Haiji shrugged and cocked his head to the side to smirk at his boyfriend. "The night’s still young to find that out, isn’t it?"
A smile softened Kakeru’s features. "Yes," he agreed quietly, his eyes gleaming. "It is."