Work Text:
Clattering of a bowl against a marble countertop is heard from the kitchen of Café Cinnamon. Causing said ruckus is a young man with asymmetric red hair. He whisks away at a homemade mix of Blueberry pancakes, occasionally throwing in another blueberry.
Ugh. Why did I have to end up with Shiina’s Date Plan this tiME? I’m not nearly as well versed in cooking as he IS. BesidES, I don’t really understand why we’re doing another date pLAN. It’s ChristmAS, what’s the poiNT?
The sizzle of pancake mix against a hot pan fills the kitchen.
Bzzt. A text.
Natsume ignores it, focusing on not burning the pancakes.
Bzzt. Another.
Silence.
Bzzt.
“Ugh.” He finally flips the first pancake onto its plate. Before returning to the pan, he grabs his phone.
｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆
Glassesface <3: So…
Glassesface <3: I’m on my way
Glassesface <3: Café Cinnamon, right?
⋆˙.⋆｡✧ ᴺᵃᵗˢᵘᵐᵉ ✧.⋆｡⋆ : CorreCT. I’ll still need some time to prepaRE, thouGH.
Glassesface <3: Oh? You take all the time you need :)
｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆
He closes his phone.
It’s nearly sundown now and the bustle of customers has slowed down enough that Natsume is left alone to finish up the rest of the pancakes. He pours the remainder of the mix into the pan and watches the batter rise, signaling him to flip.
As he waits for the other side to rise, the bell of the Café’s front door chimes.
“Natsume?”
“I’m in the kitchEN, one minuTE.”
Natsume plops the pancake onto a second plate before grabbing a bottle of syrup from the cabinet overhead. He lightly pours just enough to drip off the corners of the pancakes before returning the bottle to its assigned spot in the cabinet. He then goes to the fridge and grabs the package of bacon he had purchased earlier in the day. Looking at the dirtied pan, he takes it towards the sink and washes it, quietly humming to a familiar melody while doing so. Once the pan has been properly cleaned and dried, he takes it back to the same spot it was before on the stovetop. He clicks on the heat and gently lays five strips of bacon into the pan.
Finally having time to address his visitor, he turns around the corner leading towards the front counter and calls out “Welcome to Café CinnamON, how may I help yOU?”
Tsumugi bursts into laughter at the sudden customer service voice coming from Natsume.
Natsume put his hands on his hips in response. “WeLL?”
Tsumugi, still laughing, asks, “How about a coffee, Chef Sakasaki?” He winks.
Natsume scoffs and sticks his tongue out. “Anything for my dearest customER.”
“Aww.”
Natsume rolls his eyes.
He returns to the kitchen and flips the bacon over to cook before heading for the coffee machine.
He makes Tsumugi’s favorite blend and does it perfectly before passing it to him. Tsumugi takes a sip, smiles, and allows Natsume to continue with what he was doing in the kitchen.
After returning to the kitchen, Natsume flips the bacon onto the remaining area of the plates. He puts three strips on Tsumugi’s plate and two on his own. He then puts the dirty dishes in the sink before taking the two plates over to the counter. He scoots Tsumugi’s plate to him and puts the other plate in front of the seat beside him.
“Oh, wow, Natsume!” Tsumugi grins, “You’re being really sweet tonight. Did Santa bring you coal this year? Is this your punishment for being oh so mean to me?” He gives Natsume a teasing pout, broken up by his grin.
“No, but if you keep acting like this you might get some coal all to yourseLF.” Natsume teases.
“Aw, but I’ve already gotten such a tasty meal!” Tsumugi rests his face on the palm of his hand with his elbow on the counter. He swings around his pancake impaled fork with his other hand. “If I were to have been such a bad boy this year I don’t think I’d be rewarded with such delicious pancakes.”
Natsume rolls his eyes again before sitting down at the seat with the slowly cooling pancakes in front of it. He leans over onto Tsumugi’s shoulder.
Tsumugi eats the pancake off of his fork before resting his head against Natsume’s. “Missed me?”
Hearing this, Natsume immediately moves away from Tsumugi and starts aggressively cutting his own pancakes. He hears Tsumugi giggle at this but refuses to give him the satisfaction of having made him flustered. He, instead, continues to cut at his pancakes and eats them, only slightly less aggressively.
Tsumugi takes his eyes off of Natsume, for the first time since Natsume came back from the kitchen, and continues eating his pancakes as well.
Clank, clank.
Clatter, clatter.
Natsume, after finishing his plate, looks back at Tsumugi.
Tsumugi is very deliberately taking the longest amount of time he possibly can while eating the last slice of pancake. He, after noticing that Natsume’s watching him, takes the slice back to a small puddle of syrup left on the plate. He slowly drags it across the puddle, soaking up all the syrup he can, and takes it to his mouth. He then eats it and grins back.
Natsume pauses. “So… how was iT?”
“Delicious. I could tell you put your heart into making it.”
Natsume quickly responds with a shoulder jab to the side.
“Ow.”
That’s step one doWN. Now onto step tWO.
“Allow me to clean up the mess I made in the kitchen and we can head back to my plaCE, alrigHT?”
“Do you want me to help out? It feels weird having you do all of this for me.”
“If you insiST.” Natsume shrugs.
They gather their plates and Natsume leads Tsumugi into the kitchen.
Natsume takes to washing the dishes while Tsumugi dries them.
Natsume flicks his wet hand at Tsumugi and Tsumugi flicks his only slightly wet hand back. One flick escalates to another. It eventually leads to Tsumugi speaking up.
“Hey, Natsume?”
“Hm?”
“We’re getting water everywhere…” He points out.
Natsume takes a look around. During their short play fight they’d splashed a decent amount of water around the sink and onto some of the surroundings.
“Huh… seems sO.” Natsume shrugs.
Tsumugi heads over to the cabinet with the cleaning supplies and pulls out a towel. He takes off his glasses and wipes them off. Next, he wipes his face before putting his glasses back on. Finally, he wipes off his arms. He then turns to Natsume and begins cleaning off his face. Natsume’s hesitant to allow him to at first, but he eventually leans into it.
“Wow, Natsume, you’re almost like a cat.”
Natsume huffs and turns away.
“It’s very endearing.” Tsumugi presses a kiss to the top of Natsume’s head. He then dries off the counter. He finally puts away the towel with the other dirty towels and rags of the day.
“So…” Natsume begins. “Now that we’re done heRE, I suppose it’s about time we head back to my doRM?”
Tsumugi checks his watch and looks back up. “Yeah, it’s almost 6:30 now and I have a feeling you’ve got more plans up your sleeve?”
“Of courSE. We’re just getting startED.” Natsume winks and leads Tsumugi out of the kitchen.
Before they open the door to leave, Natsume puts his hand out, expecting Tsumugi to put their hands together. Tsumugi obliges.
Natsume opens the door with his remaining hand and spins Tsumugi out before pulling the door shut behind them.
They walk to the end of the street in silence, enjoying each other’s presence, before Tsumugi speaks up. “Is there some sort of party at your place?”
Natsume sways their interlocked hands to the rhythm of their footsteps. “No. The other two are out celebrating on their oWN. Tsukinaga is spending his time with SeNA, as per usuAL, and Nii-chan-senpai is with his little rabbits for the holidaYS.”
“Just the two of us, huh?” Tsumugi grins. “That’ll be nice.”
Natsume hides his smile as they walk to his dorm, hand in hand.
“Make yourself at hoME.” Natsume says while opening his dorm’s door for Tsumugi.
“Will do.” Tsumugi nods as he walks inside. Natsume closes the door behind them.
As Tsumugi walks through the room to the couch Natsume starts to notice things he forgot to clean up. The strewn about compositions from Tsukinaga immediately catch his eye. He heads towards the paper covered bed to tidy up but looks towards his own bed and notices his own mess; the sparkling powder from last night he forgot to clean up. His bed is nearly coated with it now and he’s just about to consider his final words when he’s interrupted.
“Is there a problem?” Tsumugi asks from the couch.
Natsume jumps at the sudden question. “Not reaLLY… I gueSS?”
Of course Tsukinaga’s messiness wouldn’t bother hIM, this is Leo Tsukinaga I’m talking about after aLL. But my meSS? Purely created from my carelessness and my slight fatigUE? He’d be immediately privy to my plaNS. But I can’t really clean it up rigHT now, can I? Ugh. I guess I’ll just have to ignore it for nOW. Perhaps I shall distract him with his preseNT? That’ll make him forget about the mess the room is IN.
“I was just thinkiNG…” Natsume clears his throat, “perhaps we should exchange our presents firST? Or perhaps you were too entranced by my offer to make you dinner to remember to stop and get me somethiNG?”
“Of course I got you something! Though I can’t say you making dinner for me wasn’t a surprise.” Tsumugi smiles.
After an eye roll and shoulder jab from Natsume, the two of them go grab their presents. Tsumugi reaches into his cardigan pocket and pulls out a small box with an even smaller bow on top while Natsume goes to the shelf next to his bed and grabs a neatly wrapped medium sized box. Natsume turns the box around to make sure it has been properly sealed with tape and magic themed wrapping paper before walking back towards the couch that Tsumugi sits patiently on.
Natsume sits down next to Tsumugi. He crosses his legs before asking, “open on the count of thrEE?”
Tsumugi nods in agreement. They hand each other their presents before beginning the countdown.
“Alright thEN.”
“One.” Tsumugi puts one finger up.
“Two.” Natsume puts two fingers up.
“Three.” They both put three fingers up before quickly putting them back down to open their presents.
Natsume gets his present open first -- all he had to do was take the top of the box off -- to see two sets of earrings. One set is a pair of matching sun and star tarot cards while the other is a set of identical glittery green dragonfly wings.
Just as Natsume begins to turn the dragonfly earrings around, Tsumugi gets his present open. Inside the medium sized present box is a new book from his favorite fantasy author and a charm bracelet. He picks the bracelet up and fastens it around his wrist, making sure it’s not so loose it’ll fall off while also giving it enough space to move around comfortably. After he fastens it he takes a closer look at the charms on it. One charm is a small potion bottle with some kind of sparkly green liquid inside of it. Another is a blue bird. There’s also a book with scribbles in it for writing along with various stars and flowers.
“You like IT?”
“Of course I do! I’ve been thinking about whether or not to buy this book for a while now but, since I’ve been so preoccupied with work and idol stuff lately, I haven’t really had the chance. The bracelet is the best part though, don’t get me wrong.” He jingles the bracelet on around his wrist. “Now I’ll have a little something to remind me of you when I’m swamped with work!” He smiles.
“... GroSS” Natsume lightly smacks Tsumugi’s thigh.
“Ow, rude.” Tsumugi jokes. “Now that you know how I feel about my present… how do you like yours?” He beams a smug smile to Natsume.
“... You’ve given worse gifTS…” Natsume looks at the TV, avoiding looking at Tsumugi.
“Aww, that means a lot!”
Natsume smacks Tsumugi’s thigh again, harder this time.
“Mhm, I love you too.” Tsumugi leans against Natsume.
“Even more groSS.” Natsume leans in as well.
Step two is compleTE, time for the third and final stEP.
They lay against each other for a few minutes before Natsume sleepily speaks up. “Hot chocolate or tEA?”
“Tea would be nice.” Tsumugi leans off of Natsume and stretches.
“PeppermiNT?”
“Of course.”
Natsume wiggles his way off the couch and heads for his portable stovetop. He puts it down on his makeshift counter -- the top of the bookshelf behind the couch -- and flicks it on. He then grabs two teacups, a tea kettle to boil the water in, and the tea he keeps for when Tsumugi comes over. He sets them down next to the stovetop. Finally, he grabs some water from their fridge and pours it into the kettle. He sets the kettle on the hot stovetop and lets it begin to boil.
“Natsume.” Tsumugi calls.
Natsume looks up from the kettle to Tsumugi. Tsumugi has his left arm over the back of the couch as he looks at Natsume. His regularly messy blue hair is even messier than normal as he brushes his fingers through it drowsily.
Aware that Natsume was starting to stare at him, Tsumugi continues. “Uh, well, thank you? You’ve been so nice tonight it feels kinda weird but… I like it? That’s uhm… that’s all I wanted to say… I guess…” He then looks away from Natsume and towards the kettle.
“Well,” Natsume sighs, “there’s still one thing leFT.”
Tsumugi slightly tilts his head in confusion.
“Is there anything you’d like to watch specificalLY? We’ve got the place to ourselvES, we may as well watch somethiNG.” Natsume points towards the remote on the other side of the couch. “Put on whatever you waNT. I have no preferenCE.”
“Ah, okay.” Tsumugi nods and begins to skim through movies on the smart TV.
Natsume sits down next to him and leans on him once again. Tsumugi continues going through shows -- mostly awful Hallmark Original movies that they make a few jokes about -- before he stops and searches for a specific show. He types its name into the search bar and selects it.
“How about this? They adapted one of my favorite book series into a show and I’ve been dying to see it.” He excitedly looks towards Natsume.
Natsume chuckles quietly. “I told you it was all up to yOU. So, go ahead and play IT. It’ll still be a minute or two before the tea is ready, thouGH.”
“Should we wait?”
“No, no, don’t worry about iT. The tea’s right behind us anywAY. I can get up and finish it with only a slight chance of missing somethiNG.”
“Alright then.” Tsumugi then clicks on the show and it starts to play. Tsumugi leans his head on top of Natsume’s.
The kettle behind them starts to whistle, almost as if it knew the two were getting too comfortable. Natsume gets up from his spot where he was nestled into Tsumugi and heads for the kettle.
He pours the water from the kettle into the two cups he previously sat next to the stovetop. He puts the tea in two separate steepers and puts them into their cups. He gets some sugar from one of his cabinets. He puts a medium amount of sugar in one cup -- his cup -- and a larger amount of sugar in the other -- Tsumugi’s. He finally switches off the stovetop and sets the kettle on top of it.
When Natsume comes around the corner to hand Tsumugi his tea, he realizes how into the show Tsumugi is. Not wishing to disrupt him, he sets the tea on the table in front of them. He then returns to the same position he was in prior to the kettle rudely interrupting them. Tsumugi does the same by resting his head back on top of Natsume’s.
They sit like this for a few episodes before Natsume finishes his tea. He sets the now empty cup on the table next to Tsumugi’s still untouched one. He elbows Tsumugi to break him out of his show induced trance and points towards the cup.
“Ah.” Tsumugi leans over to grab it. “Thank you.”
Natsume watches as Tsumugi takes a drink of the now nearly cold tea.
“It’s a little cold but it’s still as good as always. You know how to make it just how I like.” Tsumugi smiles against the cup.
Natsume leans back onto the couch and crosses his arms. “WeLL, it wouldn’t be so cold if you’d not been so absorbed in your shOW.”
“Aww.” Tsumugi drags out. “Is someone jealous of the TV?”
Natsume turns his head to look at the wall to his left, away from Tsumugi.
“I mean… you did tell me to put on whatever I wanted. I also told you that I’ve been wanting to see this for a while so… I don’t really get why you’re so jealous…” He takes a dramatic pause to mischievously smirk towards Natsume, even if Natsume can’t exactly see it. “Unless…?”
Natsume looks back towards Tsumugi, confused. “Unless whAT, exactLY?”
Tsumugi leans over and gives Natsume a kiss on the forehead. “Unless you want the attention the TV’s stealing away from you?”
Natsume’s face goes almost as red as his hair. “Four-eyES! MopheAD! Unkempt bastaRD!”
Tsumugi giggles, which results in various other insults being thrown around.
Eventually, Natsume runs out of insults to yell and sighs in defeat. He uncrosses his arms and looks back towards Tsumugi before immediately looking at the TV again.
At this point they’ve already missed half of the episode while bickering, but they decide to leave it be and decipher what they missed on their own.
“Well, this is different from the books…” Tsumugi attempts to make the room feel less awkward. “I have no idea why they decided to make the cast adults now.”
“Probably to appeal to a wider audienCE…” Natsume mumbles.
“But it messes with so much of the plot that it doesn’t really make much sense. I mean, I guess ratings are a vital part of a show but… still…” Tsumugi sighs.
The room goes silent again.
After five long minutes, they finish the first episode. The second one starts to play.
Tsumugi looks over to see what Natsume’s doing and sees that he’s fallen fast asleep. Knowing it’s better to just let him rest, he goes over to Natsume’s bed and grabs his blanket. He carefully puts it over Natsume before sliding under it himself. After getting halfway into the episode he slowly drifts off to sleep as well.
Natsume wakes up to his phone ringing. He turns his phone over to see who it is and realizes that it’s Niki. Before answering, he looks over to see a fast asleep Tsumugi who’s barely covered by the blanket. He quickly covers the rest of him up with the blanket before heading out into the hallway.
“Sakasaki!” Niki excitedly yells through the phone.
Natsume jumps back at the sudden loud yell. “Yes, ShiiNA?”
“How’d it go? Sorry if I’m intruding a bit but Morisawa told me to call you and ask how it was going and all and--” Niki stops for a split second. “Rinne! Hands off the cake, I’m not done with it yet!”
Natsume sighs. I really should have expected thIS. Both the yelling and the questioniNG.
“Sorry, sorry. You know how guys can be.” Niki awkwardly chuckles. “Anyways! As I was saying! How’d the date go?”
Natsume sighs for the second time since this conversation started. “FiNE, I suppoSE. He’s currently asleep on the couCH.”
A single clap is heard from Niki’s side of the call. “That’s great! … I guess? I’m going to be completely honest, I still have no clue what qualifies as a good date.” Niki pauses for a second.
Natsume holds back an “I could tell” before Niki continues talking.
“But if he’s asleep that must mean he’s comfortable, right? Did you follow my plan? Did you have fun? What did you make for him to eat?”
“Slow doWN, slow doWN. Okay SO, firST, yES, I did follow your pLAN. We met at Café Cinnamon where I made him some blueberry pancakES. That completed step oNE. Then we exchanged our gifts after coming to my doRM, completing step tWO. And to complete step thrEE, I made him some peppermint tea as he chose what to watCH.”
“Mhm, mhm.” Niki audibly nods… somehow.
“For your second questiON, yES, I did have fUN. Even if he seemed to be having a little too much fun himseLF.”
“You think he was having too much fun? Isn’t that good?” Niki questions.
“Hmm, I guess it’s a good thiNG? I’m not suRE, thouGH. I’m normally the one doing the teasiNG, but he seemed awfully playful tonigHT.”
“Ugh.” Niki nearly yells. “Same here. Rinne’s normally a handful but he’s just been set on messing with me constantly tonight! Even more so than normal! Speaking of which! I should probably get going. I can hear some sort of rattling in the distance and that’s never good. It was nice to hear that your date plan went well, or, uh, I guess it did? Anywho! Good luck with the rest of your night! See ya tomorrow for the recap, or whatever!”
“Ah, yES, good luck to you tOO--” Natsume gets cut off by Niki hanging up.
GeEZ that guy has a lot of energy sometimES. I wonder whose date plan he gOT. Probably MorisawA’S?
After the exhausting phone call, Natsume heads back inside the room.
Natsume returns to the spot he was at before he was rudely awakened and sits back down. He slowly lifts the blanket up to get underneath it.
As he does, Tsumugi groggily moans. “Mm, who was that?”
“It was ShiiNA, Morisawa told him to call mE.”
“Anything important?”
“No, nothing at aLL.”
Natsume wiggles close to Tsumugi and they get comfortable on the couch again. Soon after, Tsumugi falls back asleep and Natsume begins to drift off as well.
Saying “I love you” is still gross but… I suppose it isn’t wrong…
Natsume falls asleep.