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This was going about as well as he expected. Which is to say, it was not.
Ren had stayed up late for the past week, making the entire kitchen smell like burnt coffee every night. He had only just succeeded in the art of not burning every single batch of coffee he made, thanks to a few very good YouTube videos (especially one from Hazawa Coffee). He was currently working on the step where he had to foam milk, which, again, was going about as well as he expected. His first four batches were completely unusable. This fifth batch seemed to be going the same way. No matter how close of an eye he kept on it, the milk seemed to curdle instead of foam up. Indeed, the metal of the cup he was using to try and foam it burnt his hand far too quickly. He pulled his hands away too fast, making him drop the cup with a loud clatter.
He sighed. The bags under his eyes must’ve been as dark as the room he was in. But he was going to learn this. He was going to learn this, and surprise Nayuta with a latte art coffee come Valentine’s Day, even if it was driving Ren slightly crazy from the lack of sleep. With a small nod, he grabbed a towel and carefully picked up the metal cup again. He had to make up for last Valentine’s Day. He had tried to make homemade chocolates for Nayuta, and he somehow managed to both burn the chocolate and make it unable to set completely. It really resembled lumps of wet coal more than it did any type of chocolate. Nayuta had still accepted them and didn’t throw them away in front of him, but Ren wasn’t an idiot, he saw the disgust on Nayuta’s face when looking at the chocolates. Ren swore to himself, next Valentine’s Day, he was going to make it up to him. He was going to make one of those cute latte art coffees he kept seeing, both online and even in a season of another tokusatsu show he was watching. Though the coffee in that show looked far more fantastical, and apparently tasted awful to anyone who wasn’t the main character’s demon friends.
Ren had a feeling that he wasn’t even going to get it aesthetically pleasing, but he still had to try! As long as he didn’t fall asleep in front of the computer.
He had two more days to learn this.
–
The first class they shared together on Valentine’s Day was, luckily, a very early morning lecture. So the coffee was still somewhat hot when Ren got to the room. As he entered, holding a red ceramic cup with a black lid filled with the coffee, he saw Nayuta was already at his seat, head ducked down and writing something down, not even reacting to the sound of the door opening. Ren wasn’t nervous, exactly; this was their second Valentine’s Day as a couple, after all. But he was a bit anxious, mostly because he refused to taste the coffee he had made. He tried to put lemon in the coffee, but he was hoping that half a lemon wasn’t too little…
“Nayuta-kun,” Ren said, sitting down next to Nayuta, smiling. “Happy Valentine’s Day!” He gently set the cup down next to Nayuta. Nayuta looked up at Ren, his usual frown softening a bit looking at Ren. He replied with a small ‘tch’, but still grabbed the cup.
“What did you put inside it?” Nayuta asked.
“Open up the lid,” Ren said. And Nayuta did just that, taking off the silicone lid to look inside.
And what was inside was a very weird looking cat on top of a horribly thick layer of foam. Ren knew that his drawing skills weren’t the best, but he was just glad it wasn’t utterly destroyed while he was walking here. He looked expectantly at Nayuta. Nayuta’s expression had not changed.
“I made it myself,” Ren added.
“I could tell,” Nayuta said. He seemed to stare at the coffee for a few more seconds, before sighing and taking a sip. He almost immediately turned his head away from Ren’s. Ren, again, was not an idiot. He screwed it up, big time. But he heard Nayuta swallow the coffee sip anyway.
“If it’s that bad, you don’t have to drink it,” Ren said. “I wanted to try to make something I knew you’d like, and -”
“Nananhoshi, never make food for me again.” Nayuta said bluntly.
“I’m really sorry, I-” Ren started, but stopped when Nayuta took another sip from the cup, face cringing in displeasure before swallowing it. “You don’t have to keep drinking it if it’s that bad.”
“I’m not going to waste the coffee,” Nayuta said, “just like how I didn’t waste the chocolates you made for me last year.”
Ren was silent for a second as he processed this. Nayuta… actually ate the chocolate? The horrible, burnt yet still somehow melted, hard as a rock chocolate? He waited for Nayuta to put the cup down before he hugged him. He felt Nayuta tense up slightly, before leaning into the hug. He wasn’t one for PDA. But Ren didn't mind, and he'd been dating Nayuta long enough to know the relaxing was his way of returning the hug in public.
“Thank you, Nayuta-kun,” Ren said. “I promise I’ll make it up to you.”
“Do what you want,” was all that Nayuta said, though Ren swore he could feel Nayuta’s face heating up just a tiny bit. As Ren pulled away from the hug, Nayuta grabbed his chin and gently kissed him. Ren hummed happily, returning the kiss briefly before pulling away. The taste of the kiss still lingered on his lips.
“... I put way too much lemon in there, didn’t I?”
“It’s a slice of lemon, not the whole damn thing.”