Work Text:
“i’m home.”
as usual, after work, akito would come home to a dim apartment. empty— except of course, furniture and everything you need to live alone. his work covered most expences, now that it was only him and...
a cat named toya.
of course, that “i’m home” didn’t meet a reply back, his tone was quite monotonous as well, every day is another “i’ll be off now!” and “i’m home” only to be met with cricket noises— and a few meows.
the cat met their owner at the enterance of the “shared” apartment, as akito would remove his shoes at the place’s genkan(*), little toya would come to rub their body against akito’s ankle, a gesture signalling they missed him as such, akito only being reminded of his partner as they do so.
as akito finished, he lifted up the kitty as they walk to his room. passing through the empty room which was once toya’s, the partner, toya... it’s not like he left, no— well, not really.
one day, he just disappeared; which as anyone would know, he wouldn’t do so easily. and so abruptly too.
its been quite a bit— too much for akito to handle, so he adopted a cat to keep himself company, which only made him wish toya was home with him more than usual. driven by longing and yearning, he named the kitty ‘toya’.
finally, he got to his room and laid himself and his companion down on the bed, the room filled with stuff him, toya, an, and kohane did as vivid bad squad, stuff him and toya did as bad dogs, a few stuff ena gave, and a collection of other things. he laided down on his stomach, until eventually getting comfy and facing the wall. little toya was quick to follow, as they placed themself down on the pillow in front of akito.
the ginger didn’t really had the best mood as of late. drowning in worry and concern for his partner, roommate, ...it grew incredibly worse when he would call just to see if he would pick up— to no avail.
its been too long.
way too fucking long.
akito started to pet the kitty resting beside him in hopes to calm himself down, little toya slowly relaxing to the massages akito gave.
“you think he’ll come back...?”
...right, cats don’t talk back.
his eyes grew heavy, he let himself unwind in hopes for a better morning. plus, he has his duties as a college student and part-time worker at weekend garage, as well as producing more songs as vivid bad squad and bad dogs— even if they’re on hiatus because, well, toya. aoyagi toya isn’t to be found.
he at least wanted a big comeback to his fans who have been waiting 2 months for their return.
as his eyes fluttered shut, he faintly heard the door open. he brushed it off as ena dropping off a few stuff before making way to her shared apartment with mizuki next door. older sister senses kicked in, ena knew something was wrong with akito, and soon figured out it was because of toya mysterously leaving. she left things for akito just to make sure he took care of himself.
he let himself rest, with no care for the rest of the world. the world could call him worrying, or “poor little one” all they want.
but as he was about to shut his eyes for that needed sleep, he was awoken to a person hugging him from behind. wrapping their arm around his waist and resting their head by his nape.
of course, human instincts, akito jumped up to see who it was. and to his surprise...
it was the one he had been waiting to come home to him...
aoyagi toya.
“DUDE- oh my god. you startled me for a sec there...”
“ah? sorry, akito...”
akito spared no second longer, he immediately hugged his partner. tightly. he could smell toya’s shampoo, he could feel toya’s soft hair by his neck, how he fit so well in toya’s arms... it was really him.
he didn’t give any care in anything else, the only thing that mattered was—
“meow...?”
toya, startled by the one behind akito, backed away a bit, akito letting go in confusion— until he realized toya doesn’t know about the cat.
“ah— shit. right. toya! this is um... toya...? i named them after you... ‘cause i missed you and y’know... i had to sleep well at night without you so...”
“you named them after me?”
the other’s cheeks brushed pink, sometimes, being honest really doesn’t do you justice.
“ah...? well, yeah, i did”
“thats cute.”
EH? now akito’s cheeks are even more pink than usual. any 3rd party would say he’s redder than a tomato, actually.
“ah...”, akito nervously replied to toya’s statement, chuckling in the progess in embarrassment.
“well, since i’m here, wouldn’t it be difficult to tell us apart? why don’t we give them another name?”
he does have a point, after all.
“right— but dude! you gotta tell me where you’ve been. its been 2 damn months! i was so worried! even an and that kohane were too.”
toya didn’t mean to— promise, it was just as abrupt to him as the others. he didn’t actually wish to talk about it, but he understood the worries of his friends; especially his partner’s.
“my... mom died. dad called me one night to come home immediately— as in right-that-instant immediately. we held the wake and such for her, i expected to come home to you after about 2 weeks or so, until my dad had other plans... he told me to stay a bit longer and talked to me about... well... you. our relationship, the music we make, when i plan to stop and come back to classical... he forced me to play a piece, too, until i stormed off and finally came home.”
listening to toya talk, akito wasn’t sure if he were to melt and doze off to toya’s soothing voice, or to angrily rant about toya’s father. the fact he was made to play a piece made him fill up in rage. he knew how pianos and violins are played, so he took toya’s hand and flipped it to see the string scars. of course, there were indents, places where it was redder than the rest as the blood rushed there. he knew toya is unable to play classical, the fact he was forced to do something he can’t, makes him want to punch someone in the face.
"oh my god... how come you weren't able to call?"
"dad took my brother's phones, along with mine. he said it was to "focus on mom". but, don't worry, i stole it back before i left"
"technically not stealin' if it was yours to begin with..."
“does it hurt if i press here?” akito asked, lightly pressing on toya’s fingertips as he held it, his thumb rubbing on toya’s fingers, signalling that he was there, and that it’s safe.
“ah? no, really. i’m alright, akito.” toya mentioned, as his hand melted into akito’s, wrapping his index and thumb against the thumb of akito.
“but, are you alright... emotionally? you must have something pent up in there after that... right?
“akito... seriously, i’m just glad to be home. seeing you already makes up for the last 2 months.”
“yeah. 2 weeks turned to 2 months. jesus, that was too damn long.” akito scoffed.
“sorry... really...”
“toya! don’t be. that old geezer should be the one that’s sorry.”
“anyway... lets head to bed, yeah?”
“my room is over there...?” toya pointed to the wall, but forgetting about it, it does lead to his room.
“ah? forget about that. i want you here with me tonight, i want you all to myself just for a little bit. got that?” toya silently nodded in response, looking down and smiling to himself as if to hide it
“agh, don’t hide your smile from me... why hide a beautiful thing? now get over here. i’m sleepy.”
toya took off his jacket and socks, forgetting changing from his jeans and shirt— he wanted to sleep as well. akito forgot as well, so why bother? toya faced akito, akito faced toya, they lay close together as akito pulled toya closer, a hand by toya's nape and one around his waist.
toya's pants were quite long, his favorite pair just by that reason as someone quite tall. his feet were peaking below, which akito found quite cute.
he pampered toya with so many kisses, just to make up for those 2 months. toya reciprocating with a cheek kiss as well, before akito finally had enough and kissed toya's lips. it was so soft, toya made sure to keep them as such when they started dating, saki mentioned how girls liked guys with soft lips, so he thought it applied to akito as well.
“god... i kinda missed doing that” akito mentioned, toya only blushed at the statement.
"wait ...what do we name the cat?"
“ah— what do you think?”
“honestly, i'm thinking cookie, 'cause well... you like cookies, but whatever works for you!”
toya chuckled, touched at the fact the cat's previous name, and current name, are both after him.
“its cute... i like it.”
”ah... wait a moment”
toya momentarily sat down, opening his bag to grab a plushie... a pancake plushie
"i got this while i was at an arcade, it reminded me of you, so i did my best to get it as soon as i saw it."
he was able to go out to an arcade...? but anyway, it was just 3 pancakes stacked on a plate, topped with butter and syrup. just a normal plate of pancakes. toya laid down again, snuggling the plush as well.
"its adorable, actually..."
"i found it hard to sleep, this plush actually helped me a lot"
now that made akito's heart melt, not only did his worries of him being weird cease to exist, the fact his partner reciprocated that feeling just was something he probably wouldn't be able to put to words.
the two now returned to their original state, and many kisses later, gentle pats and akito brushing toya's hair with his fingers, they both fell asleep. leaving tomorrow to deal with tomorrow's problems, constant explaining on why he suddenly left and further vivid bad squad announcements... but we'll cross that bridge when we get there