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Ever since the beginning of their relationship, Chigiri and Niou had been fighting.
Not with each other, oh no. They very rarely fought with each other. Their relationship was supportive and healthy and they couldn’t get enough of each other. Their “fights” consisted over who would take a shower first after their morning run, and if Chigiri would please stop poking him in the ass whenever they walked up stairs.
Which was obviously a big fat no, because what else would he do to make Niou squeal like a little girl?
Rather, their fight was against the world and their friends, who always had some snide comments to share. Comments, on their friend’s part, that were at least not intended to be mean or cruel or come off in a judgemental, heteronormative way. And if they were, that was honestly a load of bullshit considering over half of their friends were also gay.
The comments and questions about their relationship were just so frustrating at times. So stereotypical, like gender roles mattered when both partners were male. Questions about their time in the bedroom that they would never answer. Comments indicating that Chigiri must be the “wife” in this relationship because of his demeanor and appearance, while Niou was just a man’s man who clearly was the more “dominant” one in their relationship.
They never answered such questions, and never responded to the commentary. They both thought it was quite ridiculous, because to them, none of those things ever really mattered. They were what each other needed whenever they needed it, so it felt incredibly ridiculous to put themselves into a box where they could only do one thing. Where they could only be one thing.
But no matter how much they fought. No matter how many times they deliberately ignored such inquiries. No matter how many times they said they didn’t care, the questions still persisted, even as fruitless as said questions were.
But you know, Niou really wasn’t making anything easier on them.
“Hyoma, where is my shirt?”
Oh, the shirt he took off an hour ago because it was too hot in their home, but now he needed it again because they were going to head out to meet some friends for dinner?
Chigiri rolled his eyes as he grabbed his shirt off of the couch beside him. Niou was still in their bedroom, turning over the sheets to see if maybe his shirt grew arms and legs and was able to crawl all the way from the living room to stuff itself beneath the fabric.
Very likely. Very likely for a man who still very much acted like a stereotypical man at times.
“What shirt, Kazuma?” Chigiri called back, slipping the top he had been wearing over his head, before grabbing Niou’s shirt to put on instead. Of course, it was a little too baggy for him with Niou being a head taller than him and much broader, but he didn’t mind too much. He tucked the hem into the waistband of his jeans as he stood up, heading to the bedroom to help Niou “look” until he noticed the garment had already been found.
“You know, the one I was wearing earlier? The black one with the… ah you found it.” Niou looked him up and down, sighing as he noticed the playful smirk on Chigiri’s face. He dropped the sheets back onto the bed, and stepped towards Chigiri, aiming to peel the shirt off his back so he could put it back on. Chigiri, however, took a step backwards, narrowly missing the black cat twirling around his ankles.
“Uh-uh. My shirt now. Find something else.”
Niou sighed, throwing his hands up in the air in mock exasperation, before stepping towards the basket of clean clothes that were waiting to be folded and put away. Luckily, the shirt he produced was not too wrinkled, and would settle itself before they met up with their friends as Niou wore it. Holding out a hand, he gestured for Chigiri to leave the bedroom so they could get going.
As the pair stood in the front entryway of their home, Chigiri slipped on his shoes, picking a pair that complimented the shirt he had stolen. Though, was it really stolen if he would give it back to Niou eventually? For now, it was just finders keepers, to show Niou that he needed to be more responsible with his things. Or to at least not give their friends one more reason to call Chigiri Niou’s wife.
Niou was a great boyfriend after all. They had started dating shortly after Blue Lock, during which they had become rather close during their time together on Manshine City. Training together had been a natural consequence of that, but late evening training sessions had led to one too many conversations that were mostly thinly veiled attempts at flirtation. It did not take Niou very long to gather up the courage to ask Chigiri out on their first date, and after that, the rest was history.
Niou made him smile. He was goofy and care free. Viciously loyal and protective and he made Chigiri feel oh so loved on a daily basis. He brought a playfulness back to his life that Chigiri isn’t sure was ever really there in the first place, and he absolutely loved it. He loved Niou and everything that he brought to the table.
But.
He didn’t love the way Niou seemed to be absolutely blind whenever he was looking for something.
Chigiri didn’t even know if he could call it weaponized incompetence in order to get Chigiri to look for his missing item for him. Niou did always look for his missing shirt or his shoes or his keys or whatever it was that was missing from his practice kit. He was just…. remarkably terrible at it.
Which resulted in their current arrangement, which Chigiri began out of spite and amusement, and continued because he loved the look on Niou’s face whenever he noticed that Chigiri was wearing something of his.
“Can’t find your shoes?” Chigiri asked, watching Niou dig through the basket of his sneakers and other shoes to try to find the right one. “Sadly, nothing you have will fit me or look good with this outfit, so you’re safe on this one.”
“Hey be nice , you already stole my shirt and my watch, so can you at least actually help me out this time?” Niou looked up helplessly from where he was squatting in front of his shoes. He had found one of the pair he was missing, and Chigiri knew, reluctantly, where the other shoe was.
“Oh, I have your chain, too,” Chigiri smirked, sliding the necklace out from underneath his shirt to show that he was in fact wearing the golden jewelry. That look that Chigiri loved so much rose on Niou’s face, and he saw that admiration and love that Niou felt for him written all over his face. But, it was quickly replaced by a tinge of frustration rather than infatuation, as Niou sighed.
“Please, help me find my shoe so we can go,” Niou begged with his hands clasped together like he was saying a prayer and Chigiri was his god. “Pretty pretty please, best boyfriend in the world.”
“Well, I can’t say no to that,” Chigiri grinned, turning around to head towards the living room once again. Kneeling down on the floor, he reached underneath the couch, and produced the match for the other sneaker in Niou’s hand. Niou simply watched him, blinking slowly, until he shook his head.
“How the hell do you always know where everything is?”
Holding Niou’s shoe behind his back, Chigiri just smiled as he approached him, almost wishing that Niou’s feet weren’t so incredibly large so that he could steal his shoes to wear too. But alas, he needed another prize for his find.
“Because I pay attention to where we set things down, and I noticed the cat fighting with your shoe yesterday, so I figured it was probably in his favorite hiding spot.” Chigiri watched as Niou leaned with one hand on the wall to put on the sneaker in his hand, before holding the other out in front of him to receive the shoe in Chigiri’s hand. “You should probably move the couch tomorrow and clean everything out from under there. There were so many hair ties and socks.”
“I’ll do that. Thanks, Hyoma.”
Niou reached a hand out to grab his shoe, but pouted when Chigiri pulled it out of his reach.
“Hyoma…” Niou warned, though Chigiri knew there wasn’t any heat behind the thinly veiled threat. Rather, Chigiri just smiled, tapping his lips with his index finger. Niou sighed, rolling his eyes, though Chigiri knew that Niou didn’t need a reason to kiss him, and he was just putting on a show for the dramatics.
Chigiri didn’t miss how his faked exasperation morphed into excitement as Niou grabbed his chin and tilted his head up for a brief kiss.
Niou pulled away once he felt Hyoma press the rubber sole of his sneaker into his hands.
Chigiri watched him as he leaned down to tie his shoe, reaching a hand out to adjust a hair that had fallen out of place on the crown of Niou’s head. He stood up with a grin, loving Chigiri’s attention, even when it was something small and domestic like this.
“Ready to go?” Niou asked, grabbing his keys (which he didn’t need help finding today) as he reached out to grab Chigiri’s hand.
“Ready,” Chigiri affirmed, grabbing his boyfriend’s hand as they exited their home. He waited patiently as Niou locked the door behind them, and then wrapped a hand around his bicep, enjoying the feeling of Niou’s slight flex when he felt Chigiri’s fingers on his muscles.
Okay, so maybe there were some aspects of letting Niou be the more masculine partner that weren’t so bad.
Like the gentle touches that made Chigiri feel like he was this delicate breakable thing, which was a sensation he normally hated, but with Niou, it wasn’t terrible, because he knew Niou would never let him break.
Or the way he held open doors for him, and pulled out his chair, and wrapped an arm around to show others that Chigiri was Niou’s and Niou’s alone.
He still didn’t want to be called his wife.
And he didn’t want people to make assumptions about their relationship just because Chigiri was a bit more feminine while there was no confusing Niou for a man.
But, being cared for like a wife… being loved and revered like a wife… Niou made those aspects of their relationship worth it, so he would welcome it with open arms, and keep finding Niou’s lost clothes like he wasn’t the one who had been hiding them in the first place.