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“Home!” Shouji called out into the tiny one-bedroom apartment as he slipped his shoes off in their entryway. He put a hand over his eyes as the afternoon sunlight shone straight through the window opposite him. The small green plants on the sill stretched towards the light–those must be new. Direct sunlight.
He readjusted his backpack on his shoulder and walked further in. Yuuto stood at the stove, their dinner fragrant and wafting mouthwatering smells throughout their small living space. A muffled “Welcome back” was thrown over Yuuto’s shoulder too late, as Shouji leaned down for a quick peck on the other’s cheek. Shouji could practically hear the smile as Yuuto breathed out and he turned to put his things down in the corner. Laptop, notebook, textbook, question book…he dug around further.
“Time to eat–don’t bother with that now, you just got back!” Yuuto lightly scolded as he untied the apron that hung delicately around his hips. Shouji looked up and realized that Yuuto hadn’t even looked back, yet know what he was doing. A small smirk lifted a corner of his mouth. Was it possible to know someone too well? He withdrew his empty hand from his bag and washed his hands at the sink, then sat at their table. Fresh tulips in every color sat off to the side, brightening up the browns and whites of their kitchenette. The vibrancy of the flowers spotting the apartment and Yuuto himself made their cozy home a much more appealing place to study than the dull, musty library after spending the better part of a day cooped up in an anatomy lab. The floral scents were far more inviting than the acrid smell of formaldehyde that seemed to cling to his classmates.
He reached out and gently rubbed a petal between two fingers, enjoying the velvety feel as Yuuto brought over his plates, small smile on his face, clearly proud of his dinner spread. Shouji tried to cook for them each night until Yuuto insisted that he had more important things to do–like study to be a doctor–than cook for them every night. Yuuto didn’t protest though when Shouji beat him home and to the kitchen. Shouji called it his relaxation time, a time to not have to think about school for a little bit. Yuuto didn’t want to take that from him entirely.
Their usual dinner chit-chat centered around their respective day, Yuuto gushing about the wisteria he saw on the way to the shop today. The tulips that arrived today were too pretty not to bring a few home–and he was very much looking forward to the irises over the summer.
“I was thinking of learning proper ikebana too…you wouldn’t mind if I brought home the results to put around the apartment, would you?” Yuuto asked teasingly, knowing the answer before the question fully left his mouth.
“As long as there’s still room for me to put my books when I get home,” Shouji replied before taking his last bite of rice and stacking up his bowls and plate, then doing the same for Yuuto. He got up from the table and plugged the sink, letting the water run warm and submerging all of the dinnerware.
“What if that was my evil plan all along? No more study space.” Yuuto pushed himself off of the chair and came over to stand next to Shouji. Even if they both grew since the first time they met in high school, Shouji still had a good 8 cm on him. Yuuto grabbed a dry, clean towel from one of the drawers and held a hand out expectantly, Shouji placing a newly clean and rinsed bowl into it.
“Then I would have to stay at school to study and possibly torture Takaya.”
“Leave him alone–you know how uptight he is. Then whenever Ren’s home, he has to deal with Takaya being an absolute wreck.” Yuuto rubbed the dishes dry as Shouji handed them to him, stacking them neatly on the counter.
“Hey, it’s not my fault he wants to get into something so competitive. I just go about my studying like everyone else.”
“You tell him you’re doing all of these different things to study to make him feel like he’s not doing enough.”
“Ah, he’ll be fine. He aces every exam anyway.”
“You’re terrible, Shouji,” Yuuto scolds gently, no bite behind it as he glances at Shouji sidelong and can’t help the small smile that creeps onto his lips.
He placed the sponge on the edge of the sink and pulled the plug out of the drain, grabbed a few of the suds before they’re sucked down and flicked them at Yuuto. “You don’t have to deal with Takaya saying he’s going to fail every exam when he has less questions marked wrong this whole semester than I do on a single test.” Yuuto flinched back from the suds out of reflex and bumped his shoulder playfully against Shouji’s.
“Go easy on him. How long have you known him?”
“Mmm, not as long as you, but long enough to know how to push his buttons,” he replied with a grin as he reached around Yuuto to grab the dishes and put them away in the top cabinets. When the pile of ceramic dishes was out of his hands he leaned down and chastely brushed their lips together.
“Thanks for dinner, it was really good.” He turned away and towards his backpack once more, pulling out a large stack of index cards.
After so long, Yuuto could still feel that fluttery sensation starting in his stomach and floating upwards to his chest, radiating warmth throughout his body. He paused, unable to move as the memory of their moving into this apartment flooded back to him: the uncertainty of living together, wondering how often he would even see Shouji after hearing so many horror stories about medical student life. Between that and starting up his flower shop, they didn’t see much of each other those first couple of months. Shouji got into the swing of things and Yuuto got a handle on how to run the business. Shouji began studying more at home, Yuuto brought his clerical tasks to work on at their kitchen table. Since things settled, they tried to eat dinner together at least half of the week. They made sure to talk about their days, any goings on with mutual friends, funny stories from the day, and sometimes, in Shouji’s case, warnings about not to wait up for him around exam time. Sometimes Yuuto would go to sleep alone and wake up alone, completely unsure if Shouji ever made it home at all. If nothing else, he was glad that at least Takaya was going through the same thing–he wouldn’t kid himself by saying he could empathize with what Shouji was experiencing. Then again, Takaya wasn’t the most empathetic person he had ever met.
Yuuto was snapped out of his thoughts when a hand waved in front of his face and a pile of index cards placed in his own hands.
“It’s Thursday night, remember?” Shouji prompted, practically collapsing onto their lumpy secondhand sofa. He scoots over to make room for Yuuto and pats the seat next to him. Their Thursday evening tradition would be upheld as he sat down next to Shouji and shuffled the cards. Shouji immediately took his usual spot by leaning over until his head lay comfortably on Yuuto’s shoulder.
“You can see the cards if you stay like that,” Yuuto protested, almost on cue.
“I’ll close my eyes. It’s to help me study, why would I cheat?” Yuuto could hear Shouji suppressing a smirk.
He was having a hard time suppressing his own smile. “Because of the reward system.” He placed the pile on his left side and pulled the first card. “‘Branches of the celiac trunk’. Of course there’s some motive to cheat.” He strained to look down to make sure Shouji’s eyes were indeed closed.
“'Left gastric, splenic, hepatic.’” Shouji shifted slightly to lean up (eyes still closed) and receive a small peck on the lips, only for Yuuto to dodge out of the way.
“Ah, ah, ah. You didn’t answer it right.” Shouji’s eyes blinked open in confusion as Yuuto flipped the card over to show him that the word “common” in “common hepatic artery” had been underlined in red.
“I was mostly right,” Shouji protested.
“Your professors aren’t going to think you’re 'mostly right’ considering there’s a common, right and left hepatic artery,” Yuuto quipped back, raising an eyebrow as he pointed to the note at the bottom of the index card–a reminder that Shouji had made for himself.
Shouji sat up, reached over and plucked the index card out of Yuuto’s hand, putting it down on his other side. While Yuuto watched in confusion, he didn’t have time to fend the other off as Shouji then leaned over and pressed their lips together. The hand not steadying himself against the cushion was brought up to Yuuto’s furiously warm face, thumb brushing lightly over his cheekbone.
Yuuto’s breath caught in his throat. His heart pounded in his ears as his eyes fluttered shut to savor the moment. When Shouji moved away, a small sound of protest leaked from between his lips, hand covering his mouth in embarrassment. He looked up and was certain that Shouji’s smile touched from one ear to the other.
Flustered, Yuuto shoved a hand to Shouji’s cheek to avert his gaze for him. “You cheated.”
“I didn’t. I took an advance on my next right answer.” He couldn’t stop the small laugh that escaped when he saw the small pout on the other’s face. Yuuto gathered up the cards that slowly spilled over onto the couch from the cushion movement. He nearly dropped them in surprise when a heavy weight settled in his lap.
“This way I definitely can’t look,” Shouji explained from Yuuto’s lap. He couldn’t see the expression on Shouji’s face, but there was no way he wasn’t being made fun of.
Yuuto continued with the flashcards, a hand subconsciously coming up to brush through the short buzz cut, fingers playing over his ear lobe and neck.
Shouji’s responses became quieter and more delayed. The sun set long before.
“Shouji?” He barely whispered. No response. Shouji’s chest rose and fell slowly. He smiled and shook his head.
Leaning over slightly, as not to disturb him, Yuuto examined the now relaxed features of Shouji’s face. He traced the now-more-prominent bags under his eyes–a testament to his late nights recently. Seeing him now, Yuuto started to appreciate just how tense Shouji appeared when awake. Had he really gotten used to Shouji looking so worn out already?
He gently swung his legs up while supported Shouji’s head and grabbed a nearby pillow and shoved it where his thighs had rested. Shouji was difficult to wake with 3 alarms set right next to his ear, much to Yuuto’s chagrin. He didn’t budge as Yuuto moved the stack of index cards to the floor. Yuuto pulled the large blanket off the back of the couch and laid it over the both of them, curling up under it and against Shouji, warmth immediately overwhelming him. He closed his eyes and laid an arm across Shouji’s chest.
He would follow through on Shouji’s study rewards in the morning.